Catalonia's President Artur Mas waves to supporters after voting in the regional parliament to send a petition for referendum to the national parliament, in Barcelona, January 16, 2014.REUTERS/Albert Gea
MADRID (Reuters) - Spain cannot block a non-binding vote on Catalan independence that could become the basis for negotiations on Catalonia's future, the president of the north-eastern region said in an interview published on Sunday.
"If I call a consultation, not to declare the independence of Catalonia nor to break with the Spanish state, but to know the opinion of the citizens of this country, a knee-jerk anti-democratic response from Spain would be pretty bad and disgraceful in the view of the entire world," Artur Mas told La Vanguardia, Catalonia's leading newspaper.
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