Catalan President Artur Mas has said he would call a non-binding vote on Catalonia's independence despite the fact that Madrid blocked a full referendum last year.
Catalan President Artur Mas said on Wednesday he would call a non-binding vote on the region's independence in November to let locals at least express an opinion after Madrid blocked a full referendum.
Spain's parliament this month overwhelmingly rejected the wealthy region's request to hold a plebiscite, arguing it was unconstitutional. "The consultation will be called, and within a legal framework. The central government may try to annul it. But that doesn't depend on me," Mas told journalists in the region's capital Barcelona.
The northeastern region, which accounts for around a fifth of Spanish economic output and 16 percent of its population, has its own language and a long history of fighting for greater autonomy.
Calls for separation have become a headache for the central government as it fights massive unemployment and the scars of a long economic slump.
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