Madrid moves to rein in Catalan autonomy

In a move likely to spark further protests, Spain’s Government says it will suspend Catalonia’s autonomy and impose direct rule after the region’s leader threatened to go ahead with a declaration of independence if Madrid refused to hold talks.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy was to hold a special cabinet meeting today to trigger the measure needed.

Mr Rajoy plans to invoke Article 155 of the 1978 Constitution, which allows taking control of a region if it breaks the law.

It has never been invoked since Spain returned to democracy in the 1970s at the end of Francisco Franco’s dictatorship.

The Socialist opposition said it backed the Government but suggested the measures should be limited in scope and time.

Catalan President Carles Puigdemont, ignoring a 10am deadline on Thursday to drop his secession campaign, wrote to Mr Rajoy threatening a formal declaration of independence.

The war of words increased uncertainty over a stand-off that has raised fears of social unrest, cut growth prospects for the eurozone’s fourth-biggest economy and rattled the euro.

“If the Government continues to impede dialogue and continues with the repression, the Catalan parliament could proceed, if it is considered opportune, to vote on a formal declaration of independence,” Mr Puigdemont said.

Catalonia, which has a distinctive culture and language, triggered Spain’s biggest political crisis for decades with a secession bid it put to a referendum on October 1. Only 43 per cent of voters took part but those who did voted overwhelmingly to secede, while opponents of secession mostly stayed home.

Spanish courts have ruled the referendum illegal but Mr Puigdemont says the result is binding and must be obeyed.

The European Union declined to mediate, saying the crisis was for Madrid and Barcelona to resolve. “Member states are clear there is no room or space for any kind of mediation,” European Council President Donald Tusk told media at an EU leaders summit in Brussels.

The regional authorities have not made clear how and when a declaration of independence would take place and whether it would be endorsed by the regional assembly. Some proindependence lawmakers have said they want to hold a vote in the Catalan parliament to lend it a more solemn character.