Catalan authorities must drop a bid for independence by Thursday, the Spanish government said yesterday, moving closer to imposing direct rule over the region after its leader missed an initial deadline to back down.
Catalan Presdient Carles Puigdemont yesterday failed to respond to an ultimatum from Madrid to clarify if he had declared independence.
Puigdemont made a symbolic declaration of independence on Tuesday last week, but immediately suspended it and called for negotiations with Madrid on the region’s future.
Photo: AP
Madrid had given him until 10am yesterday to clarify his position on independence with a “yes” or “no,” and until Thursday to change his mind if he insisted on a split — saying it would suspend Catalonia’s autonomy if he chose secession.
Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said after the deadline passed that Puigdemont had not answered the question and had to do so by Thursday.
“Mr Puigdemont still has the opportunity to start resolving this situation; he must answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the declaration,” Saenz de Santamaria said.
In a letter to Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy made public yesterday, Puigdemont did not directly answer the independence issue, instead making a “sincere and honest” offer for dialogue between the two men over the next two months.
In reply, Rajoy said Puigdemont’s stance had brought Madrid closer to triggering Article 155 of the constitution, under which it can impose direct rule on any of the nation’s 17 autonomous communities if they break the law.
Suggesting that Puigdemont and his team remained in no mood to follow Rajoy’s game plan, Catalan Minister of the Interior Joaquim Forn said Article 155 did not allow Madrid to remove members of the Catalan government.
EU authorities remain concerned that the deepening impasse between Madrid and Barcelona might impel moves toward secession elsewhere in the bloc.
European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker last week said that Catalan independence would encourage other regions to follow suit, potentially making the EU ungovernable, while investors believe a split could curb and eventually derail an economic rebound.
The terms of Article 155 on direct rule, which has never been applied, are vague.
It says that when a region does not meet its constitutional obligations or other laws, or goes against the general interest, the government “can adopt any measure needed to force those obligations to be met” once receiving approval from Spain’s lower house.
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