Tense Catalonia takes a step back
SPAIN: Carles Puigdemont, the president of Catalonia, stopped short yesterday of the unilateral declaration of independence feared by Madrid and the European Union but insisted the Spanish region would become an independent republic, after a referendum vote marred by police violence.
Puigdemont, who called Catalonia’s relationship with Spain ‘‘unsustainable’’, said he would suspend the formal declaration of independence to allow for dialogue and talks with Madrid.
His closely scrutinised speech followed the illegal referendum on October 1. Spain’s constitutional court had judged that the vote broke Spanish law. The plebiscite saw ballot boxes hidden from the authorities and rubber bullets fired at Catalans by police.
‘‘We have won the right to be an independent country,’’ Puigdemont, who faced arrest if he had declared independence, said. ‘‘The ballots say yes to independence and this is the will I want to go forward with.
‘‘I want to follow the people’s will for Catalonia to become an independent state,’’ he said to applause in the regional parliament. ‘‘I ask for the mandate to make Catalonia an independent republic.’’
Puigdemont immediately asked the parliament for the implementation of independence to be ‘‘suspended for a few weeks to open a period of dialogue’’.
‘‘The only way to go forward is democracy and peace, that means to respect people who think differently,’’ he said.
The Catalan leader was under pressure to back down after the EU strongly supported Spain.
Puigdemont’s pleas for the EU to mediate between Barcelona and Madrid fell on deaf ears, with Brussels insisting the referendum was illegal and that it was an internal matter for Spain.
The Spanish government has called an emergency cabinet meeting but has given little indication it is willing to talk.
Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said Puigdemont ‘‘doesn’t know where he is, where he is going and with whom he wants to go’’.
One of the government’s options 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. Puigdemont also could be called in for questioning in court and possibly arrested.
EU leaders had urged Puigdemont not to unilaterally declare independence. Earlier, European Council President Donald Tusk addressed him directly in a speech in Brussels.
‘‘The force of arguments is always better than the argument of force,’’ Tusk said. ‘‘Today I ask you to respect – in your intentions – the constitutional order and not to announce a decision that would make such a dialogue impossible.’’
Representatives of Spain’s main national parties had pleaded with the Catalan president to avoid deepening Spain’s biggest political crisis since democracy was restored after the death of General Franco in 1975.
Threats by businesses to pull out of the region, as well as prounity demonstrations in Barcelona, may have helped convince Puigdemont to take a step back.
‘‘Catalonia is a European issue,’’ Puigdemont said, adding that the EU should defend its democratic values after seeing how Spanish security forces had behaved. ‘‘This was the first time in Europe that an election took place with the police beating people as they tried to cast their vote.’’
Puigdemont’s announcement sparked scenes of celebration outside the regional parliament in the streets of Barcelona, where thousands had gathered to watch on a giant screen. –