Category: Europe

Denmark’s central bank to stop printing money

With more and more people paying with credit cards and their smartphones, Denmark’s central bank Nationalbanken says it no longer pays to print banknotes or mint coins.

By the end of 2016, Nationalbanken plans to outsource all of its printing and minting services to an external supplier.

“Although the amount of cash circulating in Denmark continues to be high, society’s demand for new banknotes and coins has been falling for years, and Nationalbanken has no expectations that the trend will be reversed,” the bank wrote in a press release.

In addition to the rise in alternative paying options, the central bank also said that today’s banknotes and coins are better recirculated into the economy and made of a better quality that ensures a longer shelf life. When viewed as a whole, the bank has determined that note and coin production is no a longer financially sound option.

The bank said that the move to an external supplier will result in a total savings of 100 million kroner ($17.2 million) through 2020.

In its statement, the bank stressed that having notes and coins produced externally would not affect the bank’s central role.

“Nationalbanken will continue to be the issuing authority for banknotes and coins and will maintain its expertise in the area of notes and coins. It is only the internal production of the notes and coins that will henceforth by done by external suppliers,” it wrote.

Source: The Local

Swedish forces issue false info on foreign submarine

On Sunday, Sweden’s Armed Forces released a photograph of an object, suspected to be a foreign submarine in the Stockholm archipelago and a map, allegedly showing where the photo was taken.

The area of the sighting was reported to be Jungfrufjärden, a fjard near the settlement of Dalarö south of Stockholm.

However, an investigation carried out by Sweden’s public broadcaster SVT showed that no locations in the area matched the photograph.

After being confronted by the SVT’s journalists, Swedish forces admitted issuing false information to avoid “helping foreign powers”.

“In retrospect, I should have been clearer during the press conference that I was showing a map with the approximate positions because I did not wish to reveal any exact positions with regard to the operation,” deputy operational director Anders Grenstad said late Monday.

Swedish forces first launched a major operation off the coast of Stockholm on Friday after receiving information, reportedly from a civilian, about the presence of an unknown underwater object in the region, suspected to be a foreign submarine.

More suspects to emerge after Total’s CEO death

New suspects are likely to emerge in the ongoing Russian investigation into the accident in Moscow’s Vnukovo airport that killed the CEO of French oil giant Total, a Russian Investigative Committee spokesman told RIANovosti on Tuesday.

“Although first suspects have already been identified in the case, it is evident that the negligent behavior of perpetrators was, naturally, overlooked by the upper management, whose actions or inaction will undoubtedly undergo a proper legal scrutiny, and we do not rule out more detentions in this case,” Vladimir Markin said.

“Moreover, investigators will take measures soon to suspend some airport officials, who may hinder the investigation, from official duty,” the spokesman added.

Russia’s Investigative Committee will legally assess the actions of the leadership of the air company over the crash of the Falcon plane with Total CEO Christophe de Margerie on board, Investigative Commitee spokesman Vladimir Markin told TASS.

The chief executive of French oil major Total was killed when a business jet collided with a snow plough during takeoff at Moscow’s Vnukovo International Airport, the company and airport officials said.
The collision occurred late on Monday, minutes before midnight Moscow time, the airport said in a statement. The Dassault Falcon business jet carrying de Margerie was heading to Paris, Reuters reported.

“The investigators will soon take measures to suspend from office a number of airport staff members who may impede the investigation. Despite the appearance of the first suspects in the case, it is also obvious that senior managers of the air company the action and inaction of which will be legally assessed during the investigation, are behind the negligent conduct of the persons directly responsible for the incident,” he said.

Markin did not rule out that more suspects may be detained during the criminal case investigation.

Investigators confiscated all video and audio recordings from the crash scene of the private Falcon-300 jet to establish those responsible for the tragic incident.

The driver of the snowplow that collided with the jet that crashed at a Moscow airport killing all four people on board, has been detained for 48 hours. The driver was drunk at the time of the accident when the snowplow he was operating crashed into the four-seat Falcon-300 airplane, which caught fire and fell onto the runway. Three crewmembers and France’s oil giant Total CEO Christophe de Margerie died in the jet’s crash.

The French Air Accident Bureau (BEA) has sent its experts to Moscow who will join the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) investigating the circumstances of the death of Total CEO Christophe de Margerie.
A team of three investigators is due to arrive in Russia soon, the Agence France-Presse reported on Tuesday.

The Paris Prosecutor General’s Office has opened a criminal case into “involuntary manslaughter” following the tragic death of the Total CEO.

Total CEO dies in crash at Moscow airport

French oil giant Total’s prices on the Euronext stock exchange dropped 2 percent after the death of the company’s CEO in a plane crash in Moscow, the market reported Tuesday.

On the Euronext Exchange, Total’s stocks dropped by 2 percent on the Paris market after news from Moscow verified that CEO Christophe de Margerie had died in a crash with a snowplow on the runway of Vnukovo Airport late Monday night, killing all four individuals on board the aircraft.

Russian investigators have confirmed that the driver of the snowplow was drunk.

The Falcon 50 jet crashed late Monday night in the Vnukovo-3 Airport in Moscow after the aircraft hit a snow removal vehicle on takeoff. The aircraft was flying from Moscow to Paris with energy giant Total’s head Christophe de Margerie as the only passenger on board besides three crew members, also French citizens.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent a telegram to his French counterpart Francois Hollande expressing condolences over the death of Total’s CEO and crew members

“I am shocked by the report of an air crash at the Moscow Vnukovo airport, which has led to the death of the chairman of the board of directors and the president of the Total oil concern, Christophe de Margerie, and the crew members,” Putin said in the telegram.
“I ask you to convey the most sincere condolences and regrets to the relatives and friends of Christophe de Margerie, a distinguished French businessman who stood at the origins of the major joint projects which have laid the basis for the fruitful cooperation between Russia and France in the energy sphere for many years,” the telegram reads.
The president’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said Putin knew Margerie and maintained close working contacts with him. The president highly valued Margerie’s business qualities and his consistent commitment to the development of Russian-French relations and mutually beneficial cooperation on the whole, Peskov said.

Russia’s former finance minister Alexey Kudrin said on his page in Twitter Christophe de Margerie did a great deal in order to promote investments in the Russian economy. Kudrin also offered condolences over Margerie’s death in the crash.

“It is a grave tragedy,” he said.

De Margerie, who joined the French oil giant in 1974, has been credited with significantly expanding the company’s operations in Russia, which accounted for about nine percent of Total’s oil and gas output in 2013.

The late Total CEO was an outspoken critic of Western sanctions imposed on Russia over its involvement in the Ukrainian crisis.

In July, he told Reuters news agency that Europe should stop thinking about cutting its dependence on Russian gas and focus instead on making those deliveries safer.

Total said last month that sanctions would not halt its involvement in the so-called Yamal project, a $27 billion joint venture investment to tap vast natural gas reserves in northwest Siberia.

Putin visits Berlusconi

Russian President Vladimir Putin perhaps couldn’t resist an invite from his Italian chum, former Premier Silvio Berlusconi, in the early hours of Friday to his mansion in Milan, according to the WSJ.

A Russian presidential spokesman said Mr. Putin visited “his old friend” Mr. Berlusconi following an invite from the Italian politician. Mr. Berlusconi heads Italy’s biggest opposition party.

President Putin, 62, must have felt the need to relax after his meeting with Ms. Merkel at 1.36 a.m. CET on Friday. He drove off with a large police escort, which included dark limousines, to Mr. Berlusconi’s house and stayed there until roughly 3 a.m.

Putin is in Italy for peace talks with European Union leaders after Ukraine threatened the flow of natural gas. The government in Kiev wants to divert fuel for domestic use as it cannot pay for gas, Bloomberg reported.

“There are big transit risks,” Putin said yesterday in Belgrade, Serbia. If Russia sees its Ukrainian partners “are starting to siphon off our gas from the export pipeline network, we will respond by reducing flows by the amount stolen.”

Italy is the major terminal for South Stream.

The Italian EU presidency is in favour of the Russian pipeline, South Stream, which would circumvent Ukraine to bring gas to south-east Europe.

“We think South Stream should go ahead, as it would improve the diversification of gas routes to Europe,” Italy’s state secretary for EU affairs Sandro Gozi said in July during a press event in Brussels.

He echoed statements made by Italian foreign minister Federica Mogherini who visited Moscow in the same month and met with her Russian counterpart.

South Stream would deprive Ukraine of transit revenues from the gas pipelines that cross its territory and bring about 80 percent of Russian gas exports to EU countries.

It would also enable it to cut off supplies to Ukraine to exert political pressure, without affecting its EU gas clients.

Michael Gonchar, a former executive at Ukraine’s gas distribution firm, Naftogaz, told EUobserver, that, together with Nord Stream, Russia’s recently-built pipeline to Germany, South Stream would give Moscow “a 100 percent monopoly on shipments of gas to Europe from the east”.

He added that it would make it less likely that the EU will ever build a gas pipeline to the Caspian Sea, the so-called Southern Corridor, to diversify supplies.

Italian parliamentarians form ‘Friends of Putin’

A group of “Friends of Putin” is being formed in the Italian parliament.
It was an initiative of Paolo Grimoldi, an opposition member and one of leaders of the Northern League party, the press service of the house of deputies said.

The politician has already begun collecting signatures in the parliament palace and expects hundreds of supporters among deputies and senators to give their signatures.

Putin is respected by members of various political forces, despite the chatter of parties about sanctions against Russia, which the Northern League views as open madness, Italian news agency ANSA cited the legislator as saying.

In recent years, Putin’s political weight was even more clearly seen, especially if to compare with the catastrophe of Obama’s administration and others, the Italian legislator said.

The politician called for continuing traditional cooperation between Russia and Italy.

The initiative is aimed at supporting the dialogue with the trade and economic partner. It is an important gesture against the suicide blockade that will cause damage to Italian enterprises. Russia and Italy should continue dialogue and cooperation in economy and in fight against the ISIL (Islamic State), the politician said.

A few days ago, at a press conference in TASS in Moscow, Grimoldi said about the importance of maintaining Italian-Russian ties. He arrived in Russia together with the Northern League’s delegation headed by the party’s secretary Matteo Salvini.

Local observers, commenting on Grimoldi’s initiative, said it was the first reaction to President Putin’s participation in the Asia-Europe summit in Milan.

Source: ItarTASS

Farage’s EFDD group collapses

The Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD) group in the European Parliament, headed by UKIP leader Nigel Farage, has been disbanded following the defection of a Latvian MEP.

The EFDD has existed for three months, including the August break.

If the EFDD can find a new MEP from a country not already in the group, it could re-form. The UK, the Czech Republic, Italy, France, Lithuania and Sweden are already represented in the group.

If the group is unable to re-form it could create a vacuum for Le Pen to restart her efforts to create a group, which she had planned to name the the ‘European Alliance for Freedom’.

Other groups in the Parliament welcomed the development. Manfred Weber, the leader of the centre-right European Peoples Party (EPP), called it “the first defeat for Eurosceptics”

A spokesperson for the EFDD group did not return calls for comment. All staff working for the EFDD group will lose their jobs unless the group can re-form.

Parliamentary groups must have at least 25 MEPs from seven different member states in order to be officially recognised by the Parliament. Iveta Grigule was the only Latvian MEP in the group, and her departure means that the EFDD does not have representation from enough member states. The group’s dissolution was officially announced today at a meeting of the conference of presidents (the group leaders).

The group was formed by UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Farage in 2009 under the name Europe of Freedom and Democracy. Most of its MEPs came from UKIP, with a handful from six other countries. It managed to stay intact for the full 2009-14 term.

Facing competition from Marine Le Pen’s efforts to create a new right-wing group in the Parliament, UKIP joined forces with the anti-establishment Five Star Movement in Italy and changed the group’s name, adding the word ‘direct’. In the new configuration, the 17 Italian MEPs shared the spotlight with UKIP’s 24 MEPs, and it is now co-led by Farage and Five Star MEP David Borrelli.

Grigule’s office said they were not yet aware of the reason for the defection. It may be related to the government-formation process in Latvia. Grigule is from the Union of Greens and Farmers party and there are ongoing talks about who is joining the government. The EFDD is seen as being pro-Putin and her membership in it may not have been palatable in a domestic context.

Learn more about the Five Star – UKIP alliance in this video interview with MEP Fabio Massimo Castaldo.

“Radicals and populists are utterly divided,” he said on Twitter. “No constructive work for citizens. Good that EFDD is no longer playing an official role.”

Catherine Bearder, the one British Liberal Democrats MEP left in the European Parliament after the party lost 10 seats in this year’s election, said it was “not surprising that UKIP has lost friends and alienated people in the European Parliament.” She said the development will make Farage a backbench MEP in the European Parliament, much like Douglas Carswell, who for the first time won a seat for UKIP in the British Parliament last week.

“Just like his new MP, Nigel Farage will now have to shout from the back benches – that is if he actually bothers to turn up,” she said.

Source: European Voice

Elderly die of starvation in Ukraine

Sixteen elderly people died from starvation in September in Donetsk. The people could not eat anything as they were afraid to go out of basements, where they were hiding from bombs, the head of Fair Aid Charity Fund, Doctor Elizaveta Glinka said.

“There are many elderly and lonely individuals, who experience terrible problems, living in cold apartments, basements and bomb shelters. The strong shortage of medicines and the lack of medical supervision require the creation of a hospice for those who need assistance. In September, 16 elderly people died from starvation in the center of the city of Donetsk. They were afraid to leave their shelters, so they could not make any food for themsevles,” she said on Tuesday at a meeting of the Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation.

“We [the Russians] are the nation that survived the war and its terrible consequences. We shared bread even with prisoners of war. I believe that we can not ignore the weak in this situation – the elderly and people with disabilities. We decided to support the creation of the hospice in Donetsk,” she said, RIA Novosti reports.

Elizaveta Glinka, known as Dr. Liza, has repeatedly visited the south-east of Ukraine with humanitarian missions to deliver medicines and medical instruments, as well as to evacuate sick children from the combat zone. In early August, Glinka brought nine seriously ill children from the east of Ukraine to Moscow. Later, she returned from Donetsk with three more children.

Source: Pravda

Peace Prize winner says Ukraine not protecting their children

Nobel Peace Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi said that protecting Ukrainian citizens and especially children, 20 of whom died in bombings in September alone, is a direct responsibility of the Ukrainian authorities.

In an exclusive Saturday interview to RIA Novosti (Rossiya Segodnya) Satyarthi, who has been struggling against child labor for most of his life, and whose Bachpan Bachao Andolan (Save Childhood Movement) organization has freed over 80,000 children from various forms of servitude, the Nobel Peace Prize winner said children should not be the victims of conflict.

Satyarthi lamented on the current plight of children in Syria and Ukraine.

“Whatever happening in Syria, Ukraine, Palestine is due to political reasons but children are bearing the brunt of these crises. It’s very painful that we have not made our place safer for the children,” he said.

He urged the world community to act against these shortcomings. “So far, we have not been able to create a world where children will be safe. They are innocent and have nothing to do with violence but often they are targets. We should not only condemn it but also act against it.”

The Peace Prize recipient said it was the responsibility of the Ukrainian government to save their citizens, particularly children.

He appealed to the Ukrainian government to ensure that such incidents against children will not occur in future.

“Safety of children should be their utmost priority,” Satyarthi said.

US authorities have pursued their own goals by creating the crisis in Ukraine, blinded by violations committed by the new Ukrainian authorities, said former Assistant to the US Treasury Secretary in the Reagan administration, head of the Institute of Political Economy, Paul Craig Roberts.

According to him, the Ukrainian government is a “puppet” government.

“As you know, Washington uses the atrocities that Kiev commits against Russians in Ukraine, to push Putin for action, to make Russia send troops to protect the Russian nationals and the territories.”

Following the hated white colonialists

White colonialism has spawned a stampede of black immigrants to Europe as hundreds of migrants attempted again to cross the Spanish border into the EU.

Over 200 immigrants attempted to cross the border fence between Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Melilla for the second time in 24 hours on Wednesday. Around 100 of them remained on the fence or in no-man’s land between the two fences.

The incident occurred at around 6:30am, while other small groups of immigrants attempted to cross at other points across the border.

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France wants to censor Facebook to stop Jihad recruitment

France is pressing ahead with even greater internet censorship than before, in an attempt to stop the recruitment of Islamic fighters on Facebook and other internet media. Some content may be censored or suppressed in terms of clause 8 of a new law currently before the French Senate. Some commentators have described the law as a serious infringement of individual liberties.

Ten years ago the presence of radical Islam on the internet was limited to about ten highly specialised Salafist websites, as well as videos of Bin Laden or other warriors filmed close up while pronouncing fatwas. Now there are thousands of images, videos and content streaming via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Instagram advocating Jihad and encouraging terrorist candidates to take the next step.

When typing “Jihad beheading” in Google videos, one finds 55 000 answers. It is possible to find within a few minutes the latest edition of the magazine Daqib, the mouthpiece of the Islamic State, comprising 55 pages advocating slavery or showing photos of Kurds executed by Daesh. Many ISIS combatants have quite public Facebook profiles where they post photos in which they pose while brandishing Kalachnikovs and which they use to gain new recruits. The story of Léa, which made the front cover of Le nouvel observatoire magazine last week, is in this respect quite revealing. The young girl of 15 was recruited for committing a bombing in France simply after posting a message saying that she was “feeling depressed”.

‘Radicalisation in the bedroom’

After listening to families of Jihadists who went to fight in Syria, the ministry of the interior noted that everyone told the same story: that of adolescents isolating themselves for hours while watching videos on the internet, radicalised “in the bedroom”. “We realised that most of the profiles of people involved in the Syrian networks are ones without any prior clashes with the law, who are not radicalised in Salafist prayer halls but on the internet and who suddenly appear on our radar screens,” said a source close to the investigation. “The vast majority of the Jihadists have their first physical contact with their recruiters on the Turkish-Syrian border, the rest is simply virtual,” said the official from the place Beauvau (where the interior ministry’s headquarters are situated).

To provoke or defend terrorism is already punishable by law in France, in terms of a law on the freedom of the press going as far back as 1881. The anti-terrorist plan of Bernard Cazeneuve which was voted by the Assemblée in mid-September and presented to the Senate today, is meant to provide new tools for preventing such “radicalisation in the bedroom or in front of the computer screen”.

Making the advocacy of terrorism a criminal offence and banning certain websites

There are two major measures to be taken by France. The first is to make advocacy of terrorism a crime in terms of the law of 29 July 1881 on the freedom of the press and to include it in the new article 421-205 of the French penal code. That will allow for longer bans and bigger fines. Anyone found guilty could be sentenced to seven years imprisonment and a fine of €100 000.

But above all, it will be possible to apply special means to combat cyber Jihad, for example by bugging lines. IT infiltration online without judicial oversight will be authorised.

The most controversial, however, is article 9 of the bill. Characterised by some as an “affront to liberty”, it will allow the blocking of URLs pointing to sites or internet pages where terrorism is advocated, simply on the advice of the police and without any judicial authority. In concrete terms, after a message from the police, a request to ban the site will be sent to the publisher, the host and the service provider of the particular site. If the content is not withdrawn within 24 hours, an administrative authority will be empowered to turn the site off or block it.

Associations defending internet freedom denounce a “draconian law”

If the national commission on information technology and freedom is presented as guardian against possible abuse of the new law, it only has a brief to protect private data and not freedom of expression. Adrienne Charnet, who heads the association Quadrature has denounced the law which according to her is “draconian”. “There are so many barriers to be put in place to avoid abuse that the risk is that we will end up with over-surveillance in society,” she argues. She condemns its “lack of efficiency”: “Anyone who is slightly familiar with the internet could get around these measures.”

“We are aware that it is impossible to suppress the Jihadist propaganda completely but we want to put a few hurdles in the way of its dissemination which is currently limitless,” answers the ministry of the interior. “It should be more difficult for an adolescent to stumble across it.”

German sanctions against Russia voted on pure speculation

A German parliamentarian, who is also chairman of the German Defense Committee and former member of the Yugoslavian OCSE, says the German government had no idea whether MH17 was actually shot down.

Alexander Neu, during an interview for Rossiya Segodnya, also spoke about Germany’s proclaimed neutrality in its involvement in Ukraine.

Neu requested a deputy’s inquest from the German government concerning the Boeing which was shot down over Ukraine on September 6.

The reply has now been released to the public.

It was clear from the reply that, firstly,  the German government had no idea whether MH17 was actually shot down. Secondly, if it had been shot down, the government couldn’t answer who the responsible party was.

The Hague published its first interim report from the Dutch Safety Board two days later and it was announced that the plane was hit by a missile, but again it was not said by whom.

The territory where the plane’s debris fell was hit by mass shelling from Kiev’s artillery, rendering it highly unlikely that any new evidence would be found.

The conversations between the pilots and the dispatchers has also still not been released.

The German media however unanimously blamed Russia and, incredibly, it was on the basis of pure speculation that sanctions were leveled against the Russian Federation, since it is now certain that the Germans had no knowledge of who might have been responsible.

Neu also wonders why crucial information is not being released from the black boxes.

Andrej Hunko, another German member of parliament, asked the OSCE in Vienna recently whether the organization had appealed to the German government for German drone support.

The OSCE replied stating that they asked neither the German nor the French government for support via drones. In fact, they wanted no military support from these countries whatsoever.

When the German Defense Minister Von der Leien was confronted with these lies at a meeting of the parliamentary defense committee, Ms. Von der Leien repeated that the OSCE had asked for support, but she would give no specifics.

In other words, von der Leien is pushing the drones, even though the OSCE had not specifically asked for them.

Germany, France and the European Union, as well as the members of NATO are a part of the conflict, supporting the Kiev regime with instructors and intelligence assistance, and are not neutral observers.

Switzerland, the chairman of the OSCE, provides drones and so does Austria, since these countries are neutral.

The cashless society arrives

Four out of five purchases in Sweden are paid electronically or by debit card and with the development of cheaper technology the trend is moving towards a fully cash free society, according to a new report.

“Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia leads the world in terms of cashless trading,” said Bengt Nilervall at the Swedish Federation of Trade (Svensk Handel).

Swedes use their debit and credit cards almost every day – an average of 260 transactions per person per year.

The picture is very different in southern Europe. In Italy, for example, three-quarters of all consumer purchases are still paid for in cash.

“That is due to the low confidence in the authorities and the banking system,” said Niklas Arvidsson, an associate professor of industrial dynamics.

Arvidsson argued that Sweden could become completely cash free but predicts that this development is unlikely until at least 2030.

“The familiarity of cash in the hand could prevent this. A recent Sifo survey showed that 2/3 people consider (the availability of) cash to be a human right,” he said.

Retailers, banks and card companies welcomed the trend with the proviso that customers are able to keep up with developments.

A cash free society would lead to increased security for both staff and customers and would cut cash-handling costs – estimated to be around 8.7 billion kronor ($1.2 billion), some 0.3% of GDP.

Armed robberies are furthermore in decline in line with the reduction of cash use. In 2012, a mere five bank robberies were committed, according to the Swedish Bankers’ Association – the lowest figure in 30 years.

The spread of cards and electronic payments has had a profound effect even on the street level with fruit and veg traders and even retailers of the homeless magazine Situation Stockholm accepting card payments.

The spread of electronic payment systems such as Swish are a further addition to the plethora of alternatives for people to transfer small sums without having to resort to the ATM.

And even though cash may be dying out in Sweden, the government has announced that a new range of bank notes will hit circulation in 2015. Take a look through the new designs here.

Source: The Local

Catalonia calls off independence vote

The leader of Spain’s wealthy Catalonia region on Tuesday called off an independence vote but said an unofficial poll will take place next month to gauge secessionist sentiment.

Artur Mas was forced to cancel the Nov. 9 referendum and replace it with a symbolic one on the same day after Spain’s government challenged the referendum in the country’s Constitutional Court, which suspended the vote while it deliberates.

Separatists in northeastern Catalonia, which has 7.5 million people, have been trying for several years to hold a breakaway vote from Spain to carve out a new Mediterranean nation.

Secessionist sentiment surged during Spain’s economic stagnation and amid discontent at Spain’s refusal to give the region more autonomy and fiscal powers.

Polls show most Catalans support holding an independence referendum and around half favor ending centuries-old ties with Spain.
Mas insisted his regional government is not backtracking and still plans an official vote later, saying the symbolic vote will serve as a “preliminary” ballot.

“It means there will be polling stations open, with ballot boxes and ballots,” Mas said. “It will depend on the people for a strong enough participation to show that people here want to vote.”

The vote questions will be the same, asking residents if they think Catalonia should be a state, and, if so, whether it should be independent.

Madrid’s central government has said an independence vote would violate clauses in Spain’s constitution specifying that only the national government can call referendums on sovereignty and that all Spaniards must be allowed to vote.

Unlike last month’s independence referendum in Scotland, which ended with voters deciding to remain part of the United Kingdom, the vote that Catalonia separatists wanted to hold would have been nonbinding.

Source: Breitbart