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Catalonia’s Leader, Facing Deadline, Won’t Say if Region Declared Independence Catalonia’s Leader, Facing Deadline, Won’t Say if Region Declared Independence
(about 3 hours later)
MADRID — Facing a deadline to state Catalonia’s intentions in a separatist conflict with Spain, the region’s leader wrote to Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Monday asking to negotiate a solution but declining to clarify whether independence had been declared. MADRID — The Spanish government has given a new ultimatum to Catalonia’s separatist leader to clarify whether he was withdrawing his plan to declare independence from Spain, after a Monday morning deadline for regional leaders to make their intentions clear came and went.
Carles Puigdemont, the Catalan leader, asked for an urgent meeting with Mr. Rajoy, according to a draft of the letter, and suggested that the conflict could be resolved, with the help of international mediators, over a period of two months. After a perplexing speech last Tuesday before Catalonia’s Parliament, Carles Puigdemont, the region’s leader, sent a letter to Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy asking to negotiate a solution but declining to clarify whether independence had already been declared.
Mr. Puigdemont also called on Mr. Rajoy to end “the repression against the Catalan people and government,” referring to the court summons on Monday for the chief of the autonomous Catalan police and the two leaders of the main pro-independence citizens’ movements, who could all face sedition charges. “Mr. Puigdemont has a serious problem, not only in terms of respecting legality but also respecting citizens who are asking for clarity,” Soraya Saénz de Santamaría, the deputy prime minister of Spain, said at a news conference in Madrid shortly after receiving Mr. Puigdemont’s letter.
“The priority for my government is to search intensely for dialogue,” Mr. Puigdemont wrote. The Catalan leader “should respond yes or no” by Thursday, she said. “It’s in his hands to avoid that the next steps be taken,” she said, although she would not detail how Madrid might use the emergency measures at its disposal if Mr. Puigdemont refused to give a clearer response.
But he did not address the crucial question of whether he had declared independence, a question that arose after he delivered a perplexing speech before Catalonia’s regional Parliament on Tuesday, in which he appeared to declare but then immediately suspend independence. Mr. Rajoy initiated a request last week for his government to invoke Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution — a broad, forceful tool that has never been used — that would allow him to take control of the region.
Facing a 10 a.m. deadline on Monday, Mr. Puigdemont asked for an urgent meeting with Mr. Rajoy, according to a copy of his letter, and suggested that the conflict could be resolved, with the help of international mediators, within two months.
He also called on Mr. Rajoy to end “the repression against the Catalan people and government,” referring to a court summons issued for the chief of the autonomous Catalan police and the two leaders of the main pro-independence citizens’ movements. All could face sedition charges.
The Catalan police chief, Josep Lluís Trapero, was questioned on Monday for a second time by Spain’s national court about why his officers could not stop a street protest in September and why they failed to close polling stations before the referendum voting started, as had been ordered by Madrid. The referendum was marred by violent clashes between voters and the national police.
In his letter, Mr. Puigdemont wrote that, “The priority for my government is to search intensely for dialogue,” but he did not address the crucial question: Whether he had declared independence in his address to Parliament last week.
The speech, which came after a highly disputed referendum on the matter on Oct. 1, was meant to create “deliberate confusion,” according to Mr. Rajoy, in part because Mr. Puigdemont is struggling to keep together his fragile separatist coalition.The speech, which came after a highly disputed referendum on the matter on Oct. 1, was meant to create “deliberate confusion,” according to Mr. Rajoy, in part because Mr. Puigdemont is struggling to keep together his fragile separatist coalition.
Hard-line secessionists want an abrupt and unilateral rupture with the central government in Madrid, while conservative and more moderate separatists have become increasingly worried about the consequences of such a move for Catalonia, particularly after dozens of companies announced plans to relocate their headquarters outside the region.Hard-line secessionists want an abrupt and unilateral rupture with the central government in Madrid, while conservative and more moderate separatists have become increasingly worried about the consequences of such a move for Catalonia, particularly after dozens of companies announced plans to relocate their headquarters outside the region.
Mr. Rajoy made clear last week that without clarification from Mr. Puigdemont, he would use emergency powers to take administrative control of Catalonia. Mr. Rajoy had given Mr. Puigdemont until 10 a.m. Monday to respond — or until Thursday to take a step back and withdraw completely his plans for secession. Mr. Rajoy made clear last week that without clarification from Mr. Puigdemont, he would use emergency powers to take administrative control of Catalonia.
Mr. Rajoy initiated a request last week for his government to invoke Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution — a broad, forceful tool that has never been used — that would allow him to take control of the region.
The article would give Madrid the authority to suspend Catalan lawmakers and take charge of the region’s autonomous administration, although Mr. Rajoy has not committed to an emergency intervention.The article would give Madrid the authority to suspend Catalan lawmakers and take charge of the region’s autonomous administration, although Mr. Rajoy has not committed to an emergency intervention.
Ms. Sáenz de Santamaría poured cold water on Monday on Mr. Puigdemont’s repeated calls for international mediation in a territorial conflict that Madrid considers to be strictly an issue of domestic sovereignty.
She said that Mr. Rajoy’s government was open to dialogue, but within the Spanish Parliament and only after Mr. Puigdemont acknowledged that the referendum and independence declaration violated the Spanish Constitution.
Mr. Puigdemont’s reply on Monday, she suggested, was intended to help gain the support from the European Union, which separatists have so far failed to obtain. “We have the feeling that Mr. Puigdemont is addressing his letter much more to people outside than to the citizens,” she said.