Spain's constitutional parties agree to apply Article 155 in proportionate and gradual manner

Spain's two main constitutional parties have only managed to reach a partial agreement on modifying the legal trigger for the temporary suspension of Catalonian self-rule should the region's government fail to meet authorities' request that it return to the country's legal framework.

The second-largest party in the national assembly, the Socialists (PSoE), had proposed an ammendment to the bill under discussion in the upper hourse, the Senate, by which application of article 155 would be halted should lawmakers in Catalonia call fresh regional elections before it had come into effect, Digital Look's sister news service in Spain, Bolsamania, reported.

Instead, the centre-right Popular party (PP) insisted that the wording of the proposed ammendment needed to be modified, asking that it also call on the Catalan government to reject issuing a unilateral declaration of independence.

However, the PP left the door open to modifying the bill under discussion, setting 0830 BST on 27 October as the deadline.

As well, the PP and the third-largest constitutional party in Spain, Ciudadanos, agreed that application of article 155 should be carried out in a "proportionate and gradual" manner and be subject to change depending on the circumstances.