Spain's Prime Minister maintained that a referendum on independence for Catalonia would be "illegal" on Tuesday (25 February) as he delivered his annual state of the nation speech.
Mariano Rajoy vowed to block the vote, which the Catalan authorities intend to hold on 9 November.
"This referendum can't take place, it is not legal," he said, adding that "it is the entire Spanish people who have the capacity to decide what Spain is."
Catalan separatist parties, which hold a maj...
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Benjamin Fox is a seasoned reporter and editor, previously working for fellow Brussels publication Euractiv. His reporting has also been published in the Guardian, the East African, Euractiv, Private Eye and Africa Confidential, among others. He heads up the AU-EU section at EUobserver, based in Nairobi, Kenya.