Spain's Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis has stated the country is considering constitutional changes to allow referendums after the country became divided by the fractious Referendum in the Catalonia region. Dastis has told the BBC a nationwide vote could be held on the issue in the future. Spain has been a state of political and constitutional turmoil since the Catalonia Independence Vote, which took place on October 1 of this year. The vote saw some of the most tense political scenes in a European nation for decades as police, sent by the national government in Madrid attempted to stop Catalonians from casting their vote, resulting in violent clashes which saw hundreds of people injured.
An attempt at reconciliation?
Following the controversial referendum, in which Catalonians overwhelmingly voted to become independent, the Catalonian government has been dissolved by Madrid, nine former members of the Catalan government have been remanded into custody and the Catalonian president Carles Puigdemot has fled to Belgium after being charged with sedition and rebellion.
In what is seen as the extending of a potential olive branch to hard-line Catalonian independence advocates, the foreign minister told the BBC that the government is "exploring the possibility of amending the constitution to be able to better accommodate the aspirations of the Catalan people." In the interview, Mr Dastis went on to apologise to the people who were injured during last months trouble but that he did not believe the police used "disproportionate force."
Snap election in December
Political instability continues in Spain as more protests over the disputed referendum results are planned.
Many people continue to protest outside the main parliament building in Barcelona. A stalemate still seems to be in place, as many Catalonians believe that only they should have the right to decide their future, while the proposal by foreign minister Dastis would essentially give the decision of independence to the whole of Spain.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has called for a snap election on December 21 in hope of resolving the crisis. While this is continuing, Mr Puigdemot remains technically on the run in Belgium with four of his fellow Catalan ministers. The Spanish foreign minister may hope that this gesture might be able to unite a seemingly fractured Spain, but following the independence referendum on October 1, there seems to be a long way to go before the political differences are resolved in the nation.
