President of the Government of Catalonia Carles Puigdemont on Monday said he wanted two months to conduct talks with Spain over the independence referendum, AFP reported.
Puigdemont had to clarify by Monday whether he was calling for Catalonia’s independence from Spain, after Madrid threatened a return to direct rule if his stance was ambiguous, Reuters reported. Puigdemont has till Thursday to withdraw the declaration of independence. Spain will strip the region of its autonomy and impose direct rule if Catalonia does not cancel its independence declaration.
The Catalan leader had made a symbolic declaration of independence on October 11 and then suspended it soon after to call for negotiations with Madrid on the region’s future. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, however, had accused Puigdemont of causing “deliberate confusion”, and gave the Catalan leader an ultimatum following an emergency Cabinet meeting.
Catalan leaders had said the result of the October 1 referendum result was in favour of independence for the north-eastern province. The turnout for the referendum, which was marred by violence and had been declared illegal by the Spanish government, was 42.3%.
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