Catalans declare independence
President says he will delay implementing plan to start dialogue and ease tension
BARCELONA, SPAIN— Catalan separatists on Tuesday signed what they called a declaration of independence from Spain to cheers and applause in the regional parliament.
Catalonia’s president said he would delay implementing it for several weeks to give dialogue a chance.
Spain, however, called an emergency cabinet meeting for Wednesday morning and gave little indication it is willing to talk.
In his highly anticipated speech, regional President Carles Puigdemont said the landslide victory in a disputed Oct.1-referendum gave his government the grounds to implement its long-held desire to break centuryold ties with Spain.
But he proposed that the regional parliament “suspend the effects of the independence declaration to commence a dialogue, not only for reducing tension but for reaching an accord on a solution to go forward with the demands of the Catalan people.”
“We have to listen to the voices that have asked us to give a chance for dialogue with the Spanish state,” Puigdemont said.
The central government in Madrid responded that it did not accept the declaration of independence by the separatists and did not consider the referendum or its results to be valid. Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said an emergency cabinet meeting had been called for Wednesday.
The Catalan leader “doesn’t know where he is, where he is going and with whom he wants to go,” she said.
Saenz de Santamaria said the government couldn’t accept the Catalan government’s validation of its referendum law because it is suspended by the constitutional court, or the results of the Oct. 1 vote because it was illegal and void of guarantees.
She said Puigdemont had put Catalonia “in the greatest level of uncertainty seen yet.”
One of the government’s options at the Wednesday meeting could be to set about applying Article 155 of the Constitution, which allows the central government to take some or total control of any of its 17 regions that don’t comply with their legal obligations.
This would begin with a cabinet meeting and a warning to the regional government to fall into line. Then, the senate could be called to approve the measure.
Puigdemont also could be called in for questioning in court and possibly arrested.
Following his speech, the Catalan leader was the first to sign the document titled “Declaration of the Representatives of Catalonia.” Dozens of other separatist lawmakers signed it after him. The signatories said the document was a full declaration of independence.
Joan Barcelo, a researcher on political conflicts at Washington Univer- sity in St. Louis, said the mixed messages sent by Puigdemont’s speech did little in his effort to rally international support.
“It’s a mess and a mistake in political communication strategy,” he said.
“He was trying not to burn bridges to dialogue, but he’s going to create doubts among his supporters.”
In his remarks, Puigdemont was highly critical of the Spanish government’s response to the referendum and the violent police reaction that left hundreds injured on voting day, but said Catalans have nothing against Spain or Spaniards, and that they want to understand each other better.
Opposition leader Ines Arrimadas of the Ciutadans (Citizens) party slammed the speech.
“This is a coup. Nobody has recognized the result of the referendum. Nobody in Europe supports what you have just done,” she said.
“The majority of Catalans feels they are Catalans, Spanish and European . . . We won’t let you break our hearts into bits,” Arrimadas said.