Catalonia and the Spanish central government remained at loggerheads yesterday after authorities in Madrid insisted that the region formally withdraw its bid for independence or face severe penalties.
Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont dodged an ultimatum to say by 10am (0800 GMT) whether his region had declared independence, after announcing on October 10 that Catalonia had won the right to do so, but would suspend a formal declaration in order to seek dialogue with Madrid.
The Catalan leader’s suspension of the independence bid to allow time for negotiations with Madrid left Spain in limbo, is rattling stock markets and worrying European leaders who are already grappling with Brexit.
Unideco, the parent company of winemaker Codirniu Raventos which markets itself as Spain’s oldest family business, became yesterday the latest of hundreds of companies to move their headquarters out of wealthy Catalonia in a bid to minimise the instability.
“The [Spanish] government regrets that [Puigdemont] has decided not to answer” the question, Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said in Madrid. “It was not difficult to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’. All we are asking for is clarity.”
Puigdemont, in a letter to Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, earlier proposed a two-month negotiation period on Catalonia’s independence ambitions, to be mediated by “international, Spanish and Catalan” actors.
The Catalan leader now has until Thursday, also at 10am, to retract his actions and avoid the application of article 155 of the constitution, Santamaria said.
“It is not difficult to return to reason in these [next] three days,” she said.
Santamaria refused to be drawn on the implications of article 155, which has never been used, but insisted that the issue at stake was not “suspending Catalonia’s self-government” but restoring constitutional order in the region.
Article 155 could allow Madrid to take control of Catalan police, dissolve the regional parliament and call new elections.
At a meeting with his European Union counterparts in Luxembourg, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel urged Catalans “to say ‘Yes, we are definitely ready for negotiations’”, after setting aside independence plans.
“I don’t think there is any point in opening any new – as you called them – ping-pong games,” he told a reporter. “All of Europe is convinced that we need the unity of member states and that the Spanish constitution needs to be respected.” 
But according to TV3, Catalonia’s regional public broadcaster, Puigdemont will continue to sidestep Rajoy’s ultimatums, prolonging the game of chicken with the Spanish government.
Catalan pro-independence officials have already been threatened with arrest and hefty fines.
Yesterday prosecutors called for the jailing of the head of the Catalan police, Josep Lluis Trapero, according to multiple Spanish media reports.
Trapero was summoned before a Madrid judge for possible sedition during the September 20-21 mass street protests in Barcelona, along with one of his deputies and the leaders of two pro-independence associations.
Catalonia, a proud and wealthy region in Spain’s northeast with its own language and culture, is at the centre of Spain’s gravest political crisis since a failed coup d’etat in 1981.
Separatists argue the northeastern region pays more in taxes than it gets back and that breaking away would allow it to prosper, but those who back unity say a split would spell economic and political disaster.
Though it represents about one-fifth of Spanish gross domestic product, Catalonia is deeply indebted to Madrid and cannot borrow internationally.
Madrid says the growing uncertainty imperils Spain’s recovery from the financial crisis.
The two biggest Catalan banks have already moved their legal headquarters to other parts of Spain, while ratings agency Standard and Poor’s has warned of a recession in the region if the crisis drags on.
Puigdemont, a 54-year-old former journalist, is under intense pressure from Madrid and world leaders to back off.
Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau urged him yesterday to abandon a unilateral independence bid, saying the uncertainty was “bad for everybody”.
“Before reaching a definitive solution, what we can do is bring about a stable dialogue – and for that, it will be necessary to give up a unilateral independence declaration once and for all,” she told La Sexta television.
But Puigdemont is also being squeezed by separatist allies to crack on with independence.
They have threatened mass strikes and protests in the event of a climb-down.
Catalans are themselves deeply divided on the issue of independence.
Catalan authorities organised an October 1 referendum in which, according to their own unverified count, 90% of about 2.3mn voters backed secession.
Turnout was only 43%, in large part because pro-union Catalans boycotted the poll.
The vote took place despite being prohibited by the Spanish Constitutional Court.
Rajoy’s government sent in federal police to disrupt voting on the day of the referendum, leading to hundreds of injuries and widespread public outcry.




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