The Catalan Labyrinth

... moved it to a new phase that is equally dangerous. In recent months, the Barcelona–Madrid conflict has been developing at such a breakneck pace that an outside observer would find it difficult to sort through the whirlwind of events that have shaken Spain. Thus, it would make sense to point out the principal landmarks of the conflict in their dialectical totality. Before the referendum: escalation of the conflict The Catalan conflict that began brewing at the start of the global crisis entered a new stage in June 2017 when Carles Puigdemont, the head of Catalonia’s Generalitat (government), announced an independence referendum to be held on October 1, 2017. In response, the right-wing conservative People’s Party (PP) represented by Mariano Rajoy stated that the referendum ...