MADRID, June 9. /TASS/. Spain’s government has affirmed it will prohibit the organization of a referendum on Catalonia’s independence, Spanish Education, Culture and Sports Minister and the country’s official representative, Inigo Mendez de Vigo, said today.

"This new strategy (of the Catalan authorities) is becoming more and more radical each time," he noted, reminding the audience of the obligations to "obey the law." According to Mendez de Vigo, any attempts to hold a plebiscite "will be appealed against by the government," as happened before "regarding all previous attempts to violate the rule of law." The country’s spokesman also specified that the number of separatists’ supporters is declining.

"The self-determination referendum that the Catalan authorities want to hold is illegal and contravenes the constitution," he highlighted. Mendez de Vigo also noted that "this plebiscite will not be held."

Earlier this day, the head of the autonomous community, Carles Puigdemont, said that the referendum on Catalonia’s independence will be held on October 1, 2017. The issue planned for discussion by the plebiscite will be the following: "Would you like Catalonia to become an independent state with a republican form of government?"

Catalonia is an autonomous community in the north-east of the Pyrenean kingdom. Over the past years, separatist sentiments have intensified in the region. On October 6, 2016, the community’s parliament approved the resolution to hold a plebiscite on Catalonia’s withdrawal from Spain. Shortly after, the Constitutional Court cancelled this document.