Regional Parliament of Catalonia has approved "a criminal action", says Mariano Rajoy

Upper House of Parliament , Madrid

The President of the Government stated that what took place on Friday, 27 October in the Regional Parliament of Catalonia is "unequivocal evidence" of the necessity of the approval by the Upper House of Parliament of the government proposal to trigger Article 155. "Today the Regional Parliament of Catalonia has approved something which, in the opinion of the vast majority of people, is not only in violation of the law, but is also a criminal action, because it means declaring something that is not possible: the independence of Catalonia".

Mariano Rajoy underlined that, with the authorisation of the Upper House, "the government will take such decisions as are necessary to recover legality" this afternoon in the Council of Ministers. He also called for calm from citizens because "things will be done well, they will be done with moderation and they will be done effectively, as we have to date". "The State will react, it now has the support of this House, and rest assured that we will rise to the circumstances", he added.

Mariano Rajoy thanked the Members of the Upper House from the People's Party, from the Socialist Party, from Ciudadanos, from the Union of the People of Navarre and from the parties from the Canary Islands for "their support for the proposal made by the government to trigger Article 155 of the Constitution".

The President of the Government commented that "Spain is a serious country, it is a great nation and we are not prepared, under any circumstance whatsoever, to allow certain people to try and wipe out our Constitution, our rules on co-existence and the rules of the game that have served for Spain, over the last 40 years, to become one of the most democratic and prosperous countries in the world".

Non official translation