We recommend the article "Catalan Leader Boldly Grasps a Separatist Lever" by Raphael Minder published in The New York Times.
Some excerpts:
ARTUR MAS, the leader of Catalonia, has a clear message for Madrid: He is serious about his threat to let the people of Spain’s most economically powerful region decide for themselves in a referendum whether they should remain a part of Spain.
In fact, he said in an interview this week, he would personally vote for independence if the opportunity arose. “Our ideal is to be part of the United States of Europe,” he said.
(...) “We all knew Mas as an efficient technocrat and one of our very best managers, but I don’t think many people expected him to show such courage and patriotic feelings,” said Josep Maria Vila d’Abadal, a mayor and member of Mr. Mas’s party, Convergència i Unió.
(...) Mr. Mas has already put words into action. Shortly after being rebuffed by Mr. Rajoy over his tax demands, he called early elections in Catalonia — on Nov. 25, two years ahead of schedule — that could turn into an unofficial referendum on independence, after a mass rally in Barcelona on Sept. 11 in which hundreds of thousands of Catalans demanded to form a new European state.
⚡️ Thread with legal and historical arguments on "#Catalonia #selfdetermination” https://t.co/Z1lx1D1bdS
— Col·lectiu Emma (@CollectiuEmma) 15 de març de 2017