Catalan officials mull independence; stocks sink

MADRID — Catalonia’s regional government on Wednesday mulled when to declare the region’s independence from Spain, with some lawmakers saying it would happen Monday. Spanish stocks sank as the country grappled with its most serious national crisis in decades.

Catalan president Carles Puigdemont again urged the government to accept mediation in the political deadlock between Spain’s authorities and the leaders of the wealthy northeastern region of some 7.5 million.

The years-long tension peaked on Sunday when police used force to disperse voters in a referendum that Spain’s Constitutional Court had ordered shelved while assessing its legality.

Politicians in other parts of Spain and a handful of civil groups have offered to try to bridge the divide between the two sides, but Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy says no dialogue can take place outside of the country’s constitution, which doesn’t include provisions for a region to secede.

“Mr. Puigdemont has been outside of the law for way too long,” said Rajoy’s deputy, Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, responding to the remarks Puigdemont made in a televised address late on Wednesday.

European leaders have sided with Spain and, amid fears that Catalonia’s secession bid could find echoes elsewhere on the continent, the European Union has so far refused to step in.

European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans stressed on Wednesday the need for Spain and Catalonia to talk with each other, but said there is a “general consensus that regional government of Catalonia has chosen to ignore the law when organizing the referendum.”

Puigdemont will address the regional parliament Monday to review the disputed vote — a session that his parliamentary supporters in the radical CUP group say they will consider the independence declaration.

Rajoy’s conservative government has declared the referendum illegal and invalid, and pledged to respond with “all necessary measures” to counter Catalan defiance, without revealing how it intends to do so.

Led by losses for the two main Catalan banks, Spain’s main stock market index lost almost 3 percentage points in Wednesday’s trading amid uncertainty over how the secession bid will proceed.