Rajoy accuses Catalan separatists of blackmail

MARIANO RAJOY has accused Catalonia’s president of blackmail following plans for the region to secede from Spain.

The Spanish Prime Minister said Carles Puigdemont’s alleged plan to prepare a law to separate from Spain should they be denied an independence referendum was “intolerable.”

What Catalan leaders “intend to achieve is the complete rupture of what Spain is today,” Rajoy said.

He was reacting to reports from Spanish press which claimed to reveal Catalonia’s regional government’s plans.

A Catalan government source told AFP that the document cited by Spanish press was a “very preliminary draft written several months ago which is nothing like the text that exists today.”

Puigdemont has vowed to hold a referendum by September 2017, with or without the approval of central government.