Catalan leader ignores ultimatum, seeks talks
Spain — A Monday morning deadline came and went without the president of the Catalonia region clarifying whether he had declared independence from Spain, and the Spanish government says he now has until Thursday to backtrack on any steps the region has taken toward secession.
Catalan President Carles Puigdemont and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy exchanged letters but made no headway in the conflict, one of the deepest political crises the country has faced in the four decades since democracy was restored.
Responding to a demand from Spain’s central government to state explicitly whether he had declared independence, Puigdemont instead sent a four-page letter seeking two months of negotiations and mediation.
“The priority of my government is to intensively seek a path to dialogue,” Puigdemont said in his letter. “We want to talk . ... Our proposal for dialogue is sincere and honest.”
Rajoy’s response came less than two hours later. The conservative prime minister lamented that Puigdemont had declined to answer the question and said that he has until Thursday morning to fall in line.
Otherwise, he faces the possibility of Spain activating Article 155 of the Constitution, which would allow the central government to rescind some of the powers that Catalonia has to govern itself. The wealthy northBARCELONA, east region, which includes Barcelona, is home to 7.5 million people and contributes a fifth of Spain’s 1.1 trillion-euro ($1.3 trillion) economy.
Spain has repeatedly said that it’s not willing to sit down with Puigdemont if calls for independence are on the table, or to accept any international mediation at all.
Puigdemont held a banned independence referendum on Oct. 1. Those who voted were overwhelmingly in favor of secession, but fewer than half of those eligible turned out to cast ballots.