Spain's Prime Minister today proposed holding a referendum in Catalonia on greater autonomy for the wealthy region but ruled out allowing a vote on independence as demanded by Catalan leaders. <br />''<br />''<br />''Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who since coming to power in June has attempted to defuse tensions over Catalonia's independence drive by holding talks with Catalonia's separatist president Quim Torra.<br />''<br />''<br />''Catalonia, which has its own distinct language, was granted autonomy under Spain's 1978 constitution adopted three years after the death of longtime dictator Francisco Franco.<br />''<br />''<br />''In 2006, a statute granting even greater powers to the northwestern region, boosting its financial clout, was approved by the Spanish and Catalan parliaments. And in a referendum at the time, over 73 per cent of voters in Catalonia approved it.<br />''<br />''<br />''But in 2010 Spain's Constitutional Court struck down several articles of the charter, among them attempts to place the distinctive Catalan language above Spanish in the region and a clause describing the region as a nation.<br />''<br />''<br />''<span style="color: #222222;">The ruling sparked a rise in support for independence in Catalonia, which is home to some 7.5 million people and accounts for about one fifth of the Spanish economy.</span><br />