Artur Mas

The crisis in Spain dramatically deepened and extended across the Continent after eight Catalan ministers were jailed by a court in Madrid and a European arrest warrant was issued to extradite the region’s disputed president Carles Puigdemont from Belgium on charges of rebellion and sedition.

The leader of Spain's Catalonia region, where a separatist movement is in full swing, announced on June 9 an independence referendum for October 1 in defiance of Madrid which is firmly against such a vote.

Speaking in Barcelona, Carles Puigdemont said the question would be: "Do you want Catalonia to be an independent state in the form of a republic."

BELGRADE - As Catalonia approaches the date of its final binding referendum on independence from Spain, Manfred Weber, a member of the European Parliament from Germany and a member of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU party, said Europe "cannot accept" Catalan independence.

"Europe cannot accept actions at the margin of the constitution," Weber said in an interview with El Pais.

Spain's Constitutional Court on Nov. 11 suspended a resolution passed by Catalonia's parliament that declared the start of a secession process, at the request of the central government in Madrid.

Catalan separatists dealt a bitter blow to Spain's government by winning control of their regional parliament, sparking uncertainty and political manoeuvring Sept. 28, three months ahead of a general election.

Parties backing the breakaway of Catalonia from Spain have secured a majority in the province's regional Parliament at the elections held Sunday, results show.

A clear majority of 72 seats (in a regional parliament of 135 seats) will be controlled by parties backing a move by Catalonia to break away from Spain by the beginning of 2017.

Catalans voted Sept. 27 in an election dubbed crucial for the future of Spain, with polls pointing to a win by separatists who vow to declare the region independent by 2017.

Catalan separatists hold a mass rally on Sept.11 for independence that will kick off campaigning for a regional election billed as a de facto referendum on breaking away from Spain.

Catalonia is poised to call on August 3 an early regional election that will serve as a proxy vote on independence from the rest of Spain, raising tensions with the central government in Madrid.

Catalan government head Artur Mas has voiced his intention to call early elections as a step toward gaining independence from Spain.

Mas told a 3000-strong multitude at a conference in Barcelona he believed this was "the only instrument" allowing Catalans to decide on their future as a nation, Spanish daily El País quotes him as saying.