Catalan self-determination referendum

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez confirmed on Friday a general election would be held in Spain on April 28, reported Euro News. 

The decision followed the Spanish parliament's rejection of the government's preliminary 2019 budget on Wednesday.

The Catalan government has announced that 90.9 percent of citizens who voted in Sunday's referendum on independence circled the option "yes."

The referendum, which is not recognized by Madrid, was marked by unrest.

The Catalan government has announced 90.9 percent of those who on Sunday turned out for the referendum on independence voted for the "yes" option.

Catalonia has a population of 5,340,000 eligible voters, which means that a minority turned out at the polls - 42.3 percent - while 2,020,144 voted "yes".

The overwhelming majority of Catalans who participated in the banned referendum have voted in favor of independence from Spain, the Catalan government has announced.

After polling stations closed in Sunday's controversial Catalonia independence referendum, Spain's Prime Minister announced that "no referendum" took place in the country.

"No referendum has been held in Catalonia today," PM Mariano Rajoy declared at a news conference Sunday evening.

The pro-separatist government of Catalonia said it had set up its own tax agency, ready for action after the disputed referendum on independence from Madrid scheduled for October 1st.

 Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy called July 5 for calm in the face of "authoritarian delusions" in Catalonia, as tensions between Madrid and separatists in the northeastern region surged over an independence drive.

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."

Catalonia's separatist government on Sunday again urged Spain's central government to let it hold a legal referendum on independence like the one Scotland staged in 2014 with London's approval, according to Deutsche Welle.

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.