[JURIST] Spanish Prime Minster Mariano Rajoy [BBC profile] confirmed Monday that the Spanish government has filed an appeal with the Constitutional Court [official website] challenging the November 9 independence referendum for the Catalonia region [BBC profile]. The government’s appeal alleges [Aljazeera report] that both the referendum and a law passed by the regional Catalan government [government website; in Spanish] that allowed Catalan President Artur Mas [official website, in Spanish] to call the vote violate the Spanish Constitution [text].

The Catalonia independence movement has gathered momentum in recent years following the economic crisis in the country that began in 2008. Earlier this month Mas signed a decree [JURIST report] calling for a referendum on secession and independence from Spain, inciting confrontation from Spain’s central government in Madrid. In February Spain’s parliament rejected [JURIST report] Catalonia’s proposed November referendum, which will ask voters if they want Catalonia to become a state, and, in the case of an affirmative response, if they want this state to be independent.