French press review 5 October 2017

Madrid and Barcelona head for a final showdown over Catalonia.

The tone of Spain's worst political crisis in decades sharpened on Wednesday when Catalonia's president Carles Puigdemont denounced King Felipe's call for the respect of constitutional order in a televised address.

Le Parisien reports that at Wednesday's meeting of the regional parliament, pro-independence lawmakers called a full session next Monday to debate the final results of the vote.

This means that the separatists in the northeastern region could unilaterally declare independence as early as Monday.

Le Figaro says Madrid and Barcelona are not ready to make any concessions to one and other as images of police beating unarmed Catalans taking part in Sunday's banned independence vote sparked nation-wide concern.

According to the right-wing publication, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy who has remained silent since Sunday's vote could invoke article 155 of the Spanish Constitution.

Le Figaro explains that the clause, never used before, empowers Madrid to take control of the institutions of a region which undermines the integrity of the general interests of the state.

La Montagne/Centre France says it remains to be seen whether Rajoy will dare evoke that clause in the law which would mean appointing prefects and possibly army generals to arrest the separatist leaders and take over the regional government business in Barcelona. That, in the paper's words would be a "chilling move back to the future".

L'Humanité claims that a solution to the crisis cannot be found in such an atmosphere of disdain and denial of the violence perpetrated on Catalan voters during Sunday's self-determination referendum.

For la Presse de la Manche, this is the type of crisis that broke out in France in May 1968.

But as it points out, the circumstances are different in Catalonia  which is a rich region and keen on keeping its wealth for its people. The regional publication warns that if the conflict is poorly managed it could turn into a catastrophe.

L'Alsace observes that the use of force to disrupt the vote was definitely disproportionate to the obligation to hold Catalonia accountable for the non-constitutional referendum.

L'Est Republicain looks beyond the Catalonian crisis and points at similar sleeping perils in Scotland and in Corsica. It argues that beyond the demagogues who make their voters dream of a happy future for nationalists lie real risks of contagion.

In this period of international uncertainty, it argues, European states will need all its knowhow to avoid fragmenting its future. The paper believes it was for want of enlightened and charismatic leaders, capable of carving out a clear future for their citizens, that Spain found itself in this quagmire.