Architect of Catalonia’s illegal referendum of 2017 has signed deal to support Spain’s socialists in return for amnesty.

The European Free Alliance political party has chosen its top two candidates for the EU elections, aiming to speak up for “all” regions, minorities, and citizens. EFA is one of the 10 European political parties, but the only one fighting for the right to self-determination, they say.

The change was requested by the Catalan pro-independence parties on whose support the acting prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, is relying to form a new government after July’s general election resulted in a hung parliament.

But separatist parties hope upcoming elections will revitalize the independence movement.

A day marking a historical defeat may seem like an odd point to declare the resurgence of Catalonia’s independence movement. Not for activist Imma Caboti.

Elections in Catalonia this week are poised to change the political landscape of the region as the ultranationalist party Vox is set to enter its parliament for the first time. Vox is campaigning on a hardline anti-separatist ticket. The election on February 14 will be a litmus test for the north-eastern region’s fractured separatist movement, which led mass protests and held an illegal independence referendum in 2017.

Why did Catalonia’s 2017 unilateral declaration of independence fail? In this video, James Ker-Lindsay (London School of Economics) explores the events leading up to Catalonia’s attempt to secede from Spain and explains why it was such a spectacular failure.

Nine separatist leaders were jailed on 14 October 2019 by Spain’s Supreme Court for between nine and 13 years after being convicted of sedition. The days that followed saw some of the worst violence in the history of the modern independence movement, which prides itself on its peaceful tactics.

On 27 October 2017, Catalonia’s former president Carles Puigdemont unilaterally declared independence from Spain, sparking the country’s worst constitutional crisis since 1975. Could we one day see an independent Catalonia, be it by legal or illegal means? And how would the new state manage its economy, and in particular its trading relationships with the rest of the world?

The number of incidents between supporters and detractors of independence increases as symbols of the Catalan independence are removed from public buildings.

A selection of photographs from the days around the independence referendum on October 1, 2017. Voters were ask to answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to the question: Do you want Catalonia to become an independent state in the form of a republic? The ‘Yes’ voters won with 2,044,038 (92.01%) voting for independence and 177,547 (7.99%) voting against, on a turnout of 43.03%.

Tweety Pie has taken center stage in the fight over independence for the Spanish region of Catalonia, and Warner Bros, the owner of the baby-talking cartoon character, isn’t happy.