The Catalan government will keep its offer to Spain of dialogue open until Thursday, when Rajoy's deadline before applying article 155 of the Spanish Constitution expires. Spanish PM Rajoy has asked Catalan president Puigdemont and his government to renounce declaring independence, otherwise he will move ahead with the constitutional route to revoking Catalan autonomy. The Catalan government will act based on the response from Rajoy's cabinet, looking for "maximum effectiveness" in their commitment with the public expressed in the referendum. This is the response to the detention without bail yesterday of the leader of pro-independence organisations ANC (Catalan National Assembly) and Òmnium, Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixart. Catalan government spokesperson, Jordi Turull, did not clarify if this would mean lifting the suspension on the declaration of independence if article 155 is put into action, but made it clear that their objective is "to be able to conclude the [independence] process".
President Carles Puigdemont, this Monday, sent a letter to prime minister Mariano Rajoy, responding to his first requirement, offering a period of two months for dialogue to look for a solution to the tense situation. However, after the detention of the two leaders yesterday, the Catalan government has set Thursday as a new deadline for the Spanish state to accept their offer. "If the State not only doesn't want to negotiate, but takes action in the opposite directions, decisions will have to be taken," said Turull.
On Thursday, at 10am, the second deadline from Rajoy will run out, this time for the Catalan government to revoke the declaration of independence made in the Parliament. The Catalan intention is to respond to this second requirement in the same terms as the first, avoiding a straight 'yes' or 'no' as to whether they made such a declaration. The confusion stems from Puigdemont's immediate suspension of the declaration after he made it.
No capitulation
Turull warned that, if the Spanish executive makes the debate a choice between capitulation and moving forward based on the referendum's results, they should take into account that "obviously, capitulation doesn't form part of the scenarios of this government, because its commitment to the 1st October is complete and total".
"On Thursday it won't be us that blows up the dialogue, it will be them, depending on how they reply. If it's with scorn and threats again, it's them that will have blown up the dialogue. Depending on the [Spanish] state's response, decisions will be taken," he said.
The spokesperson was speaking in the press conference after today's Catalan cabinet meeting, alongside the Foreign Affairs minister, Raül Romeva, wanting to emphasise the commitment to explain the proposal of dialogue to the world.
Referendum Law voided
Whilst the press conference was in progress, it was learnt that the Constitutional Court has declared illegal the Referendum Law passed by the Catalan Parliament in early September for the 1st October vote. "How quick!", said the minister, sarcastically, "I'm not shocked".
On being asked whether the law remains in force, the minister said: "We've always said that we honour the laws the Parliament of Catalonia approves, the legitimacy of the laws of the Parliament of Catalonia". "There's an executive here that commits abuses in complicity with a court, the Constitutional Court, to block the legislature. They do it every Friday," he said.
Adeslas insurance
Turull also recognised that the decision by insurance firm Adeslas to withdraw its contract for public liability insurance from the Parliament, which covers the deputies, also affects the government.
"The legal services are studying it, it's a very juristic topic, the whole topic of insurance has the large print, the small print, the smallest," he limited himself to saying.
The Catalan government will take part this evening in the protest mobilisation against the detention of the presidents of Òmnium and the ANC, although the president will not attend as normal to preserve his role.