MOSCOW, November 6 (RAPSI) – The Supreme Court of Spain has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Catalonian authorities against Spain, RIA Novosti reports on Thursday.

On September 27, Catalan President Artur Mas signed a decree scheduling Catalonia's independence referendum for November 9. The Spanish government announced that it would block the motion by appealing to the Constitutional Court. On September 29, the court suspended the referendum declaring it illegal.

Catalonian authorities appeal the ruling, saying that it violates the constitution in parts of participation, free speech and ideology.

The Supreme Court denied the appeal, calling it redundant, as it was filed after the official governmental ruling was posted on the Spain’s officialnewspaper website Boletin Oficial del Estado.

The Consitutional Court accepted Spain’s lawsuit for review, thus stalling the referendum for five months. Catalonian authorities stated that the refendum will be held on November 9 regardless.

Catalonia is a Spanish region with high level of cultural and political autonomy and its own regional parliament. It has a population of about 7.5 million people, and accounts for a quarter of Spanish taxes.

Separatist tendencies have been fueled by the economic crisis in Europe, as the region managed to recover faster than the rest of the country from the recession and even helped the central government to resuscitate the economy.