THE Speaker of the Catalan Parliament is seeking a ruling on whether the case against her and four other cabinet members for organising the October 1 independence referendum can be referred to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.

The request to the state’s high court (TSJC) came on another day of increasing bitterness over the referendum.

Carme Forcadell is facing charges for calling the poll, along with President of the Generalitat Carles Puigdemont and three other ministers.

She also asked that five members of the high court’s civil and criminal division face action for their “direct or indirect interest” in the case.

“We ask the TSJC that if it does not file the complaint against the members of the bureau, it raises a question prejudicial to the Court of Justice of the EU,” said Forcadell.

“Continued attacks by … the office of the prosecutor against the bureau and the referendum violate fundamental rights enshrined in European law.”

Three Catalan parliamentarians have also written to British Labour MEP Claude Moraes – who chairs the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee – claiming that they, the media, civil servants and voters who are in favour of the poll have faced “political and judicial persecution” from the Spanish authorities.

They also called on him to intervene to ensure that Spain complies with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights.

Meanwhile, Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos warned yesterday that Catalonia would suffer “brutal” poverty if it split from Spain.

In a radio interview, he said there would be a deep plunge in its economic output, and added: “The general impoverishment of the society would be brutal. GDP could fall between 25 and 30 percent and unemployment double.”

He said an independent Catalonia would find itself out of the eurozone, which would result in three-quarters of its exports being hit with tariffs.

De Guindos painted a scenario where banks would have to relocate from Catalonia and it would have to set up its own currency.

He said: “The independence of Catalonia would be absolutely irrational from an economic point of view.”

He added that the forthcoming poll had not had any impact on the economy, because financial markets saw independence as a “minimally viable and acceptable scenario”.

Catalonia has a population of 7.5 million and accounts for about a fifth of Spain’s GDP. Its regional government claims that if independent, it would be able to decide its own fiscal policy and investments, which would boost GDP. It says the state pays billions of euros more in taxes to Madrid each year than it gets back in investments and services, but this would end if the region split from Spain.

Hungary has said it will “respect the will of the people” if Catalonia goes ahead with the indyref, the Hungarian Government said yesterday.

Zoltán Kovács, a spokesman for Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s administration, was asked in Brussels if Hungary had a position on Catalonia. He replied: “The will of the people is always what matters, that’s the position.

“That’s the internal issue for the Spanish and Catalonian people and it should be their decision. We all have to respect the will of the people, this is called democracy.”

Meanwhile, in a series of raids in Barcelona, Spain’s civil guard has confiscated almost 1.5 million posters and leaflets related to the referendum.

The military police force raided a distribution centre in the capital Barcelona, where it seized 1.3 million posters and government leaflets encouraging people to vote, as well as other publications from the Yes campaign. Early yesterday it carried out another raid on a warehouse in the Barcelona metro area, from where a further 100,000 posters were confiscated.

Last weekend the civil guard stormed into several printing firms seizing tens of thousands of Catalan Government posters, before returning the following day to remove the printing plates used for them.

The rhetoric and raids came as Madrid continued to tighten the screws on the Catalan Government, following moves last week to take over its accounts. Spain’s Finance Ministry confirmed yesterday that the accounts were being fully controlled by central government.

A spokeswoman said: “Since the order was published in the official gazette on Friday, 100 per cent.”

In line with new instructions, banks are already obliged to check if payments are being used for referendum activities.

Asked when the Catalan Government could regain control of its funds, the spokeswoman replied: “when the situation returns to normal”.