Catalan leader given Thursday deadline to withdraw independence bid

Accra, Oct 16, (dpa/GNA) - Catalonia and the Spanish government remained at loggerheads Monday after Madrid authorities insisted that the region had to formally withdraw its independence bid or else face severe penalties.

Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont dodged an ultimatum to say by 10 am (0800 GMT) whether his statement from last week amounted to a declaration of independence.

On Tuesday, Puigdemont affirmed that his people had won the right to secede in a referendum earlier this month but called for dialogue instead of declaring independence outright.

"The Spanish government regrets that Puigdemont has decided not to answer" the question, Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said. “It was not difficult to say 'yes' or 'no'."

The Deputy Premier spoke after Puigdemont offered in a letter to Rajoy a two-month negotiation period on Catalonia's independence ambitions, to be mediated by "international, Spanish and Catalan" actors.

Puigdemont argued that Catalonia's parliament had a "democratic mandate" to break off from Spain, and said he wanted to talk "about the problem posed by the majority of the Catalan people, who want to set off on a path as an independent country within Europe."

The Catalan leader now has time until Thursday, 10 am, to retract his October 10 actions and avoid the application of article 155 of the constitution, Santamaria said. The article would allow the government to suspend Catalonia's home rule, partially or completely.

"It is not difficult to return to reason in these next three days," Santamaria said.

Santamaria, who said Rajoy had written back to Puigdemont, indicated that the offer of dialogue was "not credible," and insisted that any talks must take place "within the law, with the utmost clarity and in the national parliament."

She refused to be drawn on the implications of article 155, which is vaguely formulated and has never been used. According to most commentators, its application would not lead immediately to draconian measures.

Catalan pro-independence leaders have been told they risk arrest and large fines. As part of article 155 options, the Spanish government could take over control of Catalan police, dissolve its regional parliament and call new elections.

Catalonia is at the centre of Spain's most serious political crisis since a failed coup d'etat in 1981.

It is being closely watched in the rest of Europe, partly out of concern that it could galvanize other secessionist movements.

Catalan authorities organized an October 1 referendum in which, according to their unverified count, 90 per cent of about 2.3 million voters backed independence.

Turnout was only 43 per cent, in large part because pro-union Catalans boycotted the ballot.

The vote took place despite being prohibited by the Constitutional Court.

Rajoy's government sent in police to disrupt voting on the day of the referendum, leading to hundreds of injuries and widespread public outcry.

Catalan nationalism was fuelled in recent years by the Constitutional Court's rejection of a statute granting the region more autonomy, and by Spain's economic crisis, which led many Catalans to think they would be better off on their own.

Catalonia is a wealthy region that complains about having to subsidize the rest of Spain, and its nationalist pride is boosted by a history of repression from Madrid, and a separate language and culture.

However, warnings that secession would also mean loss of EU membership, a recent flight of banks and businesses out of Catalonia, and deep divisions within Catalan society on the independence issue, have provided cause for caution.

GNA

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