Catalan declaration of independence

Declaration of Independence of Catalonia
Puigdemont before the Parliament of Catalonia on 10 October 2017
Presented	10 October 2017
Ratified	27 October 2017
Date effective	Not effective
Repealed	See Enforcement of the Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution of 1978
Signatories	72 of the 135 members of the Parliament of Catalonia (pro-independence political parties)
Purpose	Unilateral declaration of independence of Catalonia as a sovereign republic from Spain

The Catalan declaration of independence (Catalan: Declaració d'independència de Catalunya; Spanish: Declaración de independencia de Cataluña) was a resolution that was passed by the Parliament of Catalonia on 27 October 2017, which declared the independence of Catalonia from Spain and the founding of an independent Catalan Republic.

On 10 October, in the aftermath of the 1 October 2017 Catalan independence referendum, a document establishing Catalonia as an independent republic was signed by the members of Catalonia's pro-independence parliamentary majority. The same document was voted for on 27 October by a majority of 70 out of 135 MPs in a plenary session (10 voted against, 2 abstained and 53 had left the Parliament before the voting as a sign of protest).

Fifty-three MPs from the opposition refused to be present during the 27 October voting, after the legal services of the Catalan Parliament advised that the voting could not take place as the law on which it was based had been suspended by the Spanish Constitutional Court.

A few hours later, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of Spain dismissed Catalan President Carles Puigdemont and his cabinet, and called for fresh Catalan elections on 21 December 2017. The Deputy Prime Minister of Spain Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría was assigned to be the acting president of Catalonia until the December elections.

By 31 October, the declaration of independence was fully suspended by the Constitutional Court of Spain and the dismissed Catalan government accepted the nullity of this declaration, as well as the elections proposed by Mariano Rajoy. Puigdemont and part of his cabinet fled to Belgium to escape action from the Spanish judiciary, having been formally accused of rebellion, sedition and embezzlement by the Spanish Attorney General. On 2 November, the judge Carmen Lamela of the Spanish National Court ordered that eight members of the deposed Catalan government including the ex-vice-president Oriol Junqueras be remanded in custody without bail. Additionally, Santi Vila, who was the Business Minister that resigned over the unilateral declaration of independence, was granted a €50,000 bail. The prosecution requested issuing European Arrest Warrants for Puigdemont and four other members who left Catalonia for Brussels shortly after the declaration.