CATALANS TO PUSH THROUGH WITH INDEPENDENCE BID
BARCELONA— Catalonia’s regional government planned to declare independence from Spain on Monday, pushing stocks downward as the country grappled with its most serious crisis.
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 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 had offered to try to bridge the divide between the two sides, but Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said no dialogue could take place outside of the country’s Constitution, which didn’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 remarks Puigdemont made in a televised address late on Wednesday.
European Union side
European leaders had 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 was a “general consensus that regional government of Catalonia has chosen to ignore the law when organizing the referendum.”
Puigdemont would address the regional parliament on Monday to review the disputed vote—a session that his parliamentary supporters said would be where they would consider the independence declaration.—