Catalonia's regional government votes in favour of independence

Catalonia's regional government voted in favour of independence from Spain, and has officially launched its so called road map towards independence, which they hope to achieve in just 18 months. The Spanish constitution does not encompass the right for individual regions to secede, the current Spanish government faces a general election in December and has pledged to appeal to the Constitutional Court to ensure that the Catalonian regional government's efforts to gain independence from Spain ultimately, have no consequence.

Separatists view this as a chance to finally break away from Madrid, which they view as a governmental bully who does not represent their interests. However Madrid, currently governed by a right wing party, view this independence as something that will only weaken both Spain as a whole and Catalonia further, in light of the recent economic crisis which was particularly hard on Spain. Interesting parallels can be drawn here between the Scottish and Catalonian independence movements, however, unlike Scotland, this independence process has been started without the consent of the Spanish government and if it works, it will be the first time that a European country has split peacefully without the consent of the central government.