Spain PM Says 'Catalonia outside of Spain' is Inconceivable

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Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said Tuesday he "could not conceive of a Catalonia outside of Spain" during a debate in parliament over the region's bid to hold an independence referendum.

"I defend that Catalonia should remain in Spain because I can't conceive of Spain without Catalonia nor of Catalonia outside of Spain and Europe," he told the assembly.

"Together we all win and separate we all lose," he added.

"It is not possible to grant what the Catalan parliament requests of us because the constitution does not allow it."

Lawmakers were debating a motion from the regional parliament of Catalonia, which has its own language and a long history of fighting for greater autonomy from Spain, asking for permission to hold the referendum on November 9, with a vote followed in the evening.

Rajoy's conservative Popular Party along with the main opposition Socialists and the centrist Union for Progress and Democracy (UPyD), who together have 300 of the 350 seats in Parliament, have already said they will vote against the petition.

Rajoy argues that under the current Spanish constitution, referendums can only be called by the national government in Madrid, not by the governments of Spain's 17 autonomous communities, of which Catalonia is one.

He has also warned that independence would be an economic disaster for both Spain and the northeastern region of Catalonia, one of the country's most productive but also most indebted regions.

The European Union and NATO have warned that Catalonia would be excluded if it broke away from Spain.

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