Catalonia's regional president Artur Mas speaks during a press conference at the Generalitat Palace in Barcelona, Spain, Friday, Sept. 19, 2014. A day after Scotland rejected breaking away from Britain, the regional parliament in Spain's Catalonia is expected to grant its leader the power to call a secession referendum that the central government in Madrid says would be illegal. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has vowed to prevent the Nov. 9 vote that separatist Catalans want to hold in the wealthy Mediterranean region of 7.5 million people. Spain's constitution doesn't allow referendums that do not include all Spaniards and experts say Spain's Constitutional Court would rule the vote illegal. The referendum in Catalonia wouldn't result in secession; it would ask Catalans whether they favor secession. If the answer is Yes, Catalan regional leader Artur Mas says that would give him a political mandate to negotiate a path toward independence. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
BARCELONA, Spain — The president of Spain's powerful northeastern region of Catalonia has formally called an independence referendum in the latest secession push in Europe and one of the most serious challenges to the Spanish state of recent years.
The conservative Spanish government insists the referendum, planned for Nov. 9, is illegal and won't take place.
Catalan leader Artur Mas called the referendum Saturday, flanked by most of the region's political leaders who support the vote.
The Spanish government is expected to hold an emergency cabinet meeting Sunday on the issue. It plans to challenge a recently-passed Catalan law permitting the independence referendum before the Constitutional Court, which it hopes will suspend it and halt the vote.
The announcement comes a week after Scotland voted against breaking away from Britain.