Madrid.Spain's ruling Partido Popular has criticised an agreement by Catalonia's two biggest political parties to pass a declaration of the sovereignty of the people.
The two Catalan parties are promising a referendum next year on self-determination for Catalonia, convinced that a majority want to split from the rest of Spain.
Catalonia's ruling centre-right nationalist alliance, Convergence and Union, and their allies, the left-wing pro-independence Republican Left of Catalonia, plan to put the declaration to a vote in the Catalan parliament on January 23.
Approval of the declaration, which specifies no concrete measures, is virtually guaranteed as the two parties have a majority in the 135-seat Catalan parliament following regional elections on November 25.
The declaration is seen as a prelude to the referendum on nationhood, which is fiercely opposed by Spain's central government.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's government in Madrid argues that a referendum would flout the constitution and he has vowed to ensure Catalonia abides by the law. The leader of Rajoy's centre-right Partido Popular in Catalonia, Alicia Sanchez-Camacho, described the declaration as the biggest provocation in our common history.
The Catalan Socialist Party also rejected the declaration, saying it assumed that the result of the consultation would be a vote for an independent state.
A draft of the declaration said the Catalan parliament agrees to declare the democratic sovereignty of the people of Catalonia as a political and legal entity and launches a process to give them the right to decide on creating a new nation.
The text could still be amended, said the secretary general of the Republican Left of Catalonia, Marta Rovira.
Catalonia is home to 7.5 million of Spain's total population of 46 million. It now accounts for more than one-fifth of Spain's economic output and a quarter of its exports, and boasts one of the world's finest football teams, Barcelona FC. Catalans are proud of their distinct language and culture. At a time of recession and spending cuts they resent the fact that a portion of their taxes is redistributed to other regions of Spain.