Compromise is only answer to deadlock

THE only way to end the deadlock between Madrid and Catalonia is for the two leaders to reach a compromise.

If Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy goes ahead with his threat to impose direct rule, it could spark a violent backlash that threatens to spiral out of control.

And that would provoke Catalan president Carles Puigdemont into making a declaration of independence.

But if he does, it would wreak economic turmoil and the region would become an international outcast. Both politicians are playing to their base.

Puigdemont, who says the October 1 referendum gives him the right to declare independence, needs the support of diehard Catalan nationalists to keep his coalition afloat. And Rajoy, who insists the vote was illegal, knows that his tough stance plays well in the rest of Spain.

The pair are aware of the stakes. One of them needs to blink first to avoid a catastrophe.