Catalan leader out ‘no matter what’

MADRID — Catalonia’s deposed leader is now out of a job “no matter what he says” but could run in December’s early regional election if he hasn’t been imprisoned by then, Spain’s foreign minister said Sunday.

Alfonso Dastis told The Associated Press that Catalonia’s civil servants won’t recognize former regional leader Carles Puigdemont’s authority if he ignores the Spanish government’s orders and tries to come back to work.

“If he wants to live in a parallel universe he may go on, but nobody, I think, is going to obey him,” Dastis said in an interview in Madrid.

In an unprecedented move, Spain’s central government took direct control of the northeastern region of Catalonia after the regional parliament voted Friday to declare independence from Spain. Puigdemont hasn’t said whether he will leave office voluntarily but he appeared on regional television Saturday urging Catalans to peacefully resist the takeover.

“No matter what he says, the central government is now in charge of Catalonia, although we have clearly decided we don’t want to be there for the long run,” Dastis said.

The Spanish government has fired Puigdemont and his regional cabinet and called for a new regional election on Dec. 21. It’s unclear whether the pro-independence parties that currently have a narrow majority in Catalonia’s regional parliament will participate in the vote or boycott it.

Puigdemont has said previously that he wasn’t going to run for re-election but he hasn’t said anything about the December vote.

Dastis said Catalan separatists “should think twice” before shunning that election because it “will be held according to the law. So the results will have to be respected afterward.”

Puigdemont would be welcome to run, provided he hasn’t been prosecuted for his role in staging an Oct. 1 referendum on independence that was declared illegal, Dastis said.