The Catalan president invited his Spanish counterpart to open a dialogue and said that the Catalan parliament had not voted on the declaration of independence on October 10. He made that clear in a letter on Thursday responding to Madrid’s official request for clarification on a declaration of independence. However, despite his remarks, the Spanish government says it will enforce Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution, which allows it to suspend Catalonia’s self-rule. Its spokesman announced the decision shortly after receiving President Puigdemont’s letter.

Spain’s reaction makes a full-fledged declaration of independence now much more likely to be voted in the Catalan parliament. The Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, also said in the letter that “if the Spanish government insists on blocking dialogue and continuing repression, the Catalan Parliament may proceed, if appropriate, to vote on the formal declaration of independence that it did not vote on on October 10.” Indeed, Puigdemont told his party’s top officials on Wednesday evening that if Spain ends up suspending Catalonia’s self-rule, he will lift the freeze on the declaration of independence.

“If the Spanish government insists on blocking dialogue and continuing repression, the Catalan parliament may proceed to vote on the formal declaration of independence”
Carles Puigdemont · Catalan president

And the likelihood of that happening is now very high. Madrid had set a deadline for Puigdemont to clarify if he declared independence on October 10 in the parliamentary session. Should he fail to clarify, the suspension of Catalonia’s self-rule would be enforced, Rajoy’s cabinet stated. The deadline expired on Thursday at 10am. A few minutes before the deadline, the Catalan president sent the letter in which he again called for dialogue.

Spanish government to meet on Saturday to agree on measures

Just before 11am the Spanish executive announced that Puigdemont had not answered their request for clarification. And therefore, Madrid will enforce Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution. That is, they will impose direct rule on Catalonia. Mariano Rajoy’s cabinet will meet in an extraordinary session on Saturday in order to agree on the specific measures to be taken in the coming days.

The head of the Catalan government also stated in his missive that Mariano Rajoy has so far ignored his call for dialogue. Puigdemont asked for a meeting with his Spanish counterpart in a letter last Monday. He also asked him to “reverse the repression on the Catalan people.” However, some hours after the letter was delivered, Spain’s National Court upheld holding two Catalan pro-independence civil leaders in prison. Because of that, Puigdemont said in his second letter that repression has “increased” in the past few days.

‘Higher percentage of voters in favor of independence than Brexit in the UK,’ says Puigdemont

“Despite all these efforts and our will to open a dialogue, the fact that your only response is the suspension of our self-government shows a lack of awareness of the problem and a lack of willingness to speak,” he added. In the letter, he also reminded his counterpart that more people voted for independence on October 1 than for the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia in a referendum in 2006. Besides, he also claims that a higher percentage of voters supported independence than supported Brexit in the UK.

Guifré Jordan | Barcelona

* Catalan News. 19 October 2017 11:33 AM:
http://www.catalannews.com/politics/item/catalan-parliament-to-vote-declaration-of-independence-if-madrid-suspends-self-rule

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 Spanish Government To Activate Article 155 Process To Suspend Home Rule In Catalonia, Moncloa Confirms

UPDATES ADDED

Oct 19 2017—NEWS—Rajoy rejects Puigdemont’s final letter for not providing enough clarity; “grave damage” to coexistence and economy in Catalonia.

• PP Spokesman Hernando Labels Puigdemont “Zombie Leader”

• PSOE Supports “Perfectly Constitutional” Use Of Article 155 In Catalonia

The central government is to activate the Article 155 process to suspend home rule in Catalonia, a spokesman for Moncloa, the Spanish Prime Minister’s confirmed to The Spain Report on Thursday morning.

This is the first time in the modern democratic period, dating from 1978, that a central government has tried to suspend home rule in one of Spain’s 17 regions.

Moncloa said in an additional written statement that an extraordinary cabinet meeting will be held on Saturday to decide on which measures will be used to “protect the general interest of Spaniards” in Catalonia.

* * *

PP Spokesman Hernando Labels Puigdemont “Zombie Leader”

Published: 12:34 pm, Oct 19 2017 (link)

The Catalan First Minister, Carles Puigdemont, had sent a new letter to Mariano Rajoy minutes before the second Article 155 deadline ran out at 10 a.m. on Thursday morning.

That new letter did not provide the clarity the central government was seeking about the status of the independence of Catalonia, Moncloa said in its statement. Last week’s formal Article 155 notification—the first step in the process—asked Mr. Puigdemont to reply “clearly and precisely”.

“In consequence, the government of Spain will continue with the steps laid out in Article 155 of the Constitution to restore the legality of self-government in Catalonia.”

Saturday’s extraordinary cabinet meeting will decide on which measures the government will send to the Senate for approval: “in order to protect the general interest of Spaniards, among them the citizens of Catalonia, and restore constitutional authority in that autonomous community [region]”.

Moncloa said the Catalan government had been “deliberately and systematically seeking institutional confrontation despite the grave damage being caused to coexistence and the economic structure in Catalonia”.

In statements to journalists in Congress on Thursday, Europa Press reported, Popular Party spokesman Rafael Hernando labelled Catalan First Minister Carles Puigdemont a “zombie leader” who was acting “absolutely irresponsibly”.

“He has blown up all the bridges.”

* * *

PSOE Supports “Perfectly Constitutional” Use Of Article 155 In Catalonia

Published: 12:07 pm, Oct 19 2017 (link)

The Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) supported Mariano Rajoy’s government in its move to suspend home rule in Catalonia on Thursday, with the “perfectly constitutional” use of Article 155, spokesman José Luis Ábalos said in a press conference at 12 p.m.

“Democracy and the state of law cannot cede faced with this intolerable threat”, he said, adding that Mr. Puigdemont, with his “dishonest” offer of dialogue, “is the only person responsible” for what has happened: “Spain is consolidated democracy”.

“The only thing they want to talk about is Catalonia leaving Spain.”

The regional government has “clearly rejected dialogue within the rule of law”.

“The territorial integrity of Spain is not up for negotiation.”

The Spain Report

* The Spain Report. First published: Oct 19, 2017, 10:20 am | Last updated: Oct 19, 2017, 10:47 am:
https://www.thespainreport.com/articles/1221-171019102006-spanish-government-to-activate-article-155-process-to-suspend-home-rule-in-catalonia-moncloa-confirms

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 Self-government at stake as time runs out

Uncertainty reigns over Catalonia’s political future in latest clash with Madrid.

Thursday October 19 at 10am is the deadline the Spanish government has given Catalan president Carles Puigdemont to clarify whether he declared independence. It is the final step before the implementation of article 155 of the Spanish Constitution, and the suspension of Catalonia’s self-rule. Yet, on Wednesday, the government in Madrid added a new element: the executive is willing to hold off applying article 155 in exchange for Puigdemont calling fresh regional elections, something the Catalan government says it is not planning to do.

The countdown to the deadline issued by Spanish president Mariano Rajoy dominated debate in the Spanish Parliament on Wednesday, both in the chamber and in the corridors, with disagreement over the extent of article 155. Some sources argued it would entirely disable the Catalan government, while others suggested only certain reserved powers would be affected. Treasury sources insisted that Catalan finance minister and vice president, Oriol Junqueras, would be replaced by a substitute designated by the Spanish government.

Fresh elections “not on the table”

Meanwhile, the Catalan executive prefers to wait and see. Government sources say that right now there are no plans for early elections, with the priority being to respect the mandate from the October 1 independence referendum. From Brussels, Catalan foreign affairs minister, Raül Romeva, denied that fresh elections “were on the table.“At the same time, the pro-independence JxSí and CUP parties are discussing how to implement the referendum mandate, with CUP insisting the intention is to proclaim the republic in the “next few days.”

Rajoy meets opposition leaders

Also on Wednesday, Rajoy spoke to PSOE leader, Pedro Sánchez, and the leader of Cs, Albert Rivera, to agree on the conditions for a possible application of article 155. While Sánchez gave his support to the idea of halting implementation of 155 in the case of new elections, he revealed no other details of the conversation. According to sources in Cs, Rajoy agreed at the meeting with Rivera that he would keep the Cs party informed about the steps the Spanish government takes in “the technical application of 155 in the next few hours."

Should the Spanish government decide to go ahead with implementing article 155, definitive approval of the measures required for it are likely to take place in the Senate on Thursday and Friday next week, October 26 and 27. A joint Senate commission representing Spain’s regional heads would be set up to pass the measures, with a plenary session of the Senate to follow in which the final approval of the measures would take place.

Catalan News (ACN) | Barcelona SHARE

* 18 October 2017 08:25 PM:
http://catalannews.com/politics/item/self-government-at-stake-as-time-runs-out

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