CATALAN LEADER GIVEN ULTIMATUM TO DROP INDEPENDENCE
Spain on Wednesday gave Catalonia’s separatist leader until next week to clarify whether he intends to push ahead with independence, warning that Madrid would take control of the region if it insisted on breaking away.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has vowed to do everything in his power to prevent Catalan secession following a banned referendum in the region, which remains deeply divided over independence.
Emergency Cabinet meeting
He held an emergency Cabinet meeting after Catalonia President Carles Puigdemont announced on Tuesday that he had accepted the mandate for “Catalonia to become an independent state.”
Rajoy told lawmakers in Madrid he was giving Puigdemont until Monday to decide if he really wanted to take the path of independence.
“It is very important that Puigdemont clarify for the rest of Spaniards if he declared indepen- dence yesterday or not,” he said.
Rajoy said if Puigdemont did push ahead with secession, the central government would give him until Oct. 19 to reconsider before suspending Catalonia’s regional autonomy.
The deadline sets the clock ticking on Spain’s most serious political crisis since its return to democracy four decades ago.
World leaders are watching closely and uncertainty over the fate of the region of 7.5 million people has damaged business confidence, with several listed firms already moving their legal headquarters to Madrid.
Madrid rejects mediation
Puigdemont said the referendum had given him a mandate for independence but immediately asked regional lawmakers to suspend the declaration to allow for negotiations with the central government.
Rajoy has said he will not negotiate on anything until the separatists abandon their independence drive, and rejected calls for mediation.—