The Spanish government will “immediately” appeal the laws of disconnection, that is, the proposed laws of the referendum and of transitional jurisprudence, as soon as the pro-independence parties "put them on the table". In other words, as soon as they start their progress through the Catalan Parliament, they are included in a plenary assembly or they are approved by decree. That's what the Spanish vice-president, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, said today in a statement in the courtyard of the Congress, during which she described the law of Transitional Jurisprudence as an "outrage".
Other sources from the Spanish government explain that in the case the Catalan government approves the laws by decree, the Spanish one will present a new appeal to the Constitutional Court, whilst if they're processed through the Parliament, they will opt for an interlocutory order for enforcement of a sentence. The government, the sources say, is constantly on the lookout and already has the filings drafted.
The law of Transitional Jurisprudence, “an outrage”
Sáenz de Santamaría harshly criticised the contents of the law of Transitional Jurisprudence presented this week: “In Spain, with a consolidated democracy, that somebody intends to constitute an autocracy where the president of the Catalan government rules not only over their ministers, but also over the Parliament and the judges, destroys the division of powers and the slightest political responsibility,” she said.
She said that the fact that "parties and deputies that come to this chamber to say specific things can support a product that is typical of other latitudes" stands out "a lot".
The referendum will not happen
As the Spanish government has said repeatedly, Sáenz de Santamaría said categorically that the Catalan independence referendum planned for 1st October will not take place. "I believe that in one month from now, there is no legality, logistics nor signature" and "all that about a referendum with guarantees comes from the lack of the slightest democratic shame when presenting initiatives."
Rajoy's government is prepared
The vice-president remarked that the proposed addition of fast-track bill processing to the Catalan Parliament's rules had been suspended by the high court as a precaution and "any other process demands the opportunity for the opposition to make contributions and above all that the Council of Statutory Guarantees gives its opinion". In any case, according to Sáenz de Santamaría, if the pro-independence parties and the Catalan government ignore the suspension "probably that same day they'll face an appeal of unconstitutionality, and if not, the next morning". "It goes without saying that this doesn't catch us by surprise, and if they enact it by decree, the same is true," she said.
The vice-president has said that the Spanish government “has been prepared for weeks” even though it's still unknown whether Carles Puigdemont's Catalan government will use the decree path or if the pro-independence parties will take it to the Parliament's plenary assembly. For this reason, she made a "call to the slightest democratic principles of those who registered the law of Transitional Jurisprudence in the Parliament of Catalonia." She didn't clarify whether her government will already start on the path to banning from public office any officials as allowed by the reforms to the rules of the Constitutional Court. "There are four political culprits here who were banned from office in their day, and those who admitted to parliament any anti-constitutional initiatives have proceedings opened against them in the court. I won't say any more."