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Catalonia: Puigdemont to reveal independence plans - live
Catalonia: Puigdemont to reveal independence plans - live
(35 minutes later)
6.37pm BST
18:37
Carles Puigdemont has switched from Catalan to Spanish, and is now addressing the Spanish people.
We are not criminals, we are not mad. We are normal people, and we just want to vote. We have been ready to talk and have dialogue. We have nothing against Spain. We want to have a better understanding with Spain. The relationship hasn’t been working for many years, and now it’s unsustainable.
6.31pm BST
18:31
The Catalan leader is giving a long history lesson on the province and the Catalan independence campaign.
He has been speaking for around 20 minutes, and there is still no detail on what he plans to do.
Updated
at 6.31pm BST
6.26pm BST
18:26
Puigdemont condemns the police violence that was seen during the referendum.
He continues:
I want to explain now why we are here. I think we should explain ourselves. Since the death of the dictator Franco, Catalonia has contributed massively to Spanish democracy.
Catalonia thought the 1978 Spanish constitution could be a good platform for democracy, and got involved. But later, we realised that the Spanish authorities were seeing this as the final target, but for us, it was a transition.
In 2005, 85% of this parliament, following the procedures that the constitution establishes, approved a new statue for Catalonia, and that triggered a massive anti-Catalan campaign by the people that want to govern and dominate Spain at any price.
6.21pm BST
18:21
The Catalan leader continues to speak about the integrity of the referendum, and thanks those who made the vote possible.
The chamber applauds in agreement.
6.19pm BST
18:19
The Catalan leader starts:
I am not planning any threat, any insults. We are all responsible for this. We need de-escalate the situation, not feed it any longer. I want to address everyone about the issue.
We are all part of the same community and we need to go forward together. We will never agree on everything, but we have proved many times that the only way to move forward is with democracy and peace. That requires dialogue.
Updated
at 6.19pm BST
6.14pm BST
18:14
Carles Puigdemont has started speaking. He greets the assembly, then says he is here to lay out the consequences of the independence referendum.
6.12pm BST
18:12
The session begins
The pro-independence supporters outside the Catalan parliament fall silent as the session begins. The Catalan leader looks relaxed.
6.05pm BST
18:05
The chamber in the Catalan parliament is filling up again, and Carles Puigdemont has just arrived. He’s taken off his glasses and he’s reading over the speech one last time.
Here we go...
Updated
at 6.06pm BST
5.58pm BST
5.58pm BST
17:58
17:58
Spanish media are reporting Carles Puigdemont asked for the postponement because the radical pro-independence CUP party is unhappy with the wording of his declaration.
Spanish media are reporting Carles Puigdemont asked for the postponement because the radical pro-independence CUP party is unhappy with the wording of his declaration.
Two minutes to go until the Catlan leader is due to speak. The parliament is still empty...
Two minutes to go until the Catlan leader is due to speak. The parliament is still empty...
5.49pm BST
5.49pm BST
17:49
17:49
With just 15 minutes to go until Carles Puigdemont is due to speak, there lots of rumours flying around about the reasons behind the postponement.
With just 15 minutes to go until Carles Puigdemont is due to speak, there lots of rumours flying around about the reasons behind the postponement.
The Guardian understands there has been contact between the regional government and EU officials, possibly even European commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, although we have no formal confirmation.
The Guardian understands there has been contact between the regional government and EU officials, possibly even European commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, although we have no formal confirmation.
The EU’s official position is that Catalonia’s independence bid is an “internal” Spanish matter.
The EU’s official position is that Catalonia’s independence bid is an “internal” Spanish matter.
5.38pm BST
5.38pm BST
17:38
17:38
Talks underway to resolve the crisis
Talks underway to resolve the crisis
Sam Jones
Sam Jones
A Catalan government spokesman has told the Guardian that some kind of talks are under way to resolve the crisis, saying: “There is a mediation effort going on and that’s all we are gong to say for now.”
A Catalan government spokesman has told the Guardian that some kind of talks are under way to resolve the crisis, saying: “There is a mediation effort going on and that’s all we are gong to say for now.”
Updated
Updated
at 5.41pm BST
at 5.41pm BST
5.38pm BST
17:38
Thousands of people are still packing the Passeig de Lluis Companys between the Arc de Triomf and the Ciutadella park - where the regional parliament is - to await the session.
Varios miles de personas aguardan en la calle la declaración de Puigdemont pic.twitter.com/kNf5olMDYx
5.31pm BST
17:31
Sam Jones
A spokesman for the Catalan government said: “President Puigdemont has requested a postponement given the contacts for international mediation”.
It appears some eleventh hour diplomacy is under way.
5.18pm BST
17:18
The Catalan government has just confirmed the session will be delayed by an hour as there is a meeting of the board of parliament and party spokespeople.
That leaves around 40 minutes to watch the first two videos from the Guardian’s I am Catalan series before president Puigdemont speaks.
5.11pm BST
17:11
Speech delayed for an hour
Well, that’s quite the anti-climax. BBC news are reporting Carles Puigdemont has requested an hour delay before he gives his speech.
The chamber in the Catalan parliament has emptied.
5.06pm BST
17:06
It is unclear what is happening in the Catalan parliament. It is only half full, and president Puigdemont is not at the podium.
Updated
at 5.12pm BST
4.50pm BST
16:50
10 minutes to go until Carles Puigdemont reveals his plans for Catalan independence.
It will be the first time he addresses the regional parliament since the referendum that provoked the standoff with the Spanish government.
Updated
at 5.19pm BST
4.46pm BST
16:46
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has said the EU should not play a mediating role in Spain’s secession crisis and – like his foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian – expressed confidence in Madrid’s ability to handle the situation.
“It is an internal Spanish matter,” Macron said in Frankfurt, Germany, before meeting chancellor Angela Merkel. Asked about the Catalan crisis, he said he saw no way that he, as French head of state, could mediate in the affairs of a neighbour either.
“This is not my task,” he said.
Updated
at 4.49pm BST
4.36pm BST
16:36
Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon has spoken out about the crisis in Catalonia in her keynote speech at the SNP conference, criticising the EU for not condemning the Spanish government’s actions during the independence referendum.
When the people of Catalonia - EU citizens - were violently attacked by police just for trying to vote, the EU should have spoken up, loudly, to condemn it.
Friends, in Catalonia, I hope dialogue will replace confrontation. It is time for the Spanish government to sit down with the government of Catalonia. It is time for them to talk and to find a way forward.
A way forward that respects the rule of law, yes. But a way forward that also respects democracy and the right of the people of Catalonia to determine their own future.
Updated
at 5.18pm BST
4.28pm BST
16:28
If Catalonia makes a unilateral declaration of independence, Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajo has hinted he will invoke article 155 of the 1978 Spanish constitution, which allows the central government to take control of an autonomous region if it “does not fulfil the obligations imposed upon it by the Constitution or other laws, or acts in a way that is seriously prejudicial to the general interest of Spain.”
Article 155 has never been used by Spain’s central government.
Here is the official English language translation of article 155:
1. If a Self-governing Community does not fulfil the obligations imposed upon it by the Constitution or other laws, or acts in a way that is seriously prejudicial to the general interest of Spain, the Government, after having lodged a complaint with the President of the Self-governing Community and failed to receive satisfaction therefore, may, following approval granted by the overall majority of the Senate, take all measures necessary to compel the Community to meet said obligations, or to protect the above mentioned general interest.
2. With a view to implementing the measures provided for in the foregoing paragraph, the Government may issue instructions to all the authorities of the Self-governing Communities.
4.26pm BST
16:26
Jon Henley
France’s foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, has reiterated Paris’s confidence in the government of Mariano Rajoy to resolve the crisis. In an interview with Ouest France newspaper, Le Drian said:
France’s principles are very clear. It supports Spain as a friend and as an essential partner in the EU. We are very attached to Spanish unity. We believe Catalonia’s claims must be made within a framework of legality and Spanish constitutional unity. Every other hypothesis would be dramatic. We have made our support in this context very clear to the Spanish authorities, while regretting the violence.
The French European affairs minister, Nathalie Loiseau, said yesterday that France would not recognise Catalonia if it pushed ahead on the basis of the contested referendum, and stressed an independent Catalonia would find itself outside the EU:
If there were to be a declaration of independence, it would be unilateral, and it would not be recognised. Catalonia cannot be defined by the vote organised by the independence movement just over a week ago. This crisis needs to be resolved through dialogue at all levels of Spanish politics.
