The general secretary of Podemos, Pablo Iglesias, has said this Friday that a hypothetical unilateral declaration of independence would be the "worst decision" that the Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, could take and that it would give Mariano Rajoy's Spanish government the opportunity to apply harsh measures. As such, he called on Puigdemont the reject the option.
Speaking to the State Citizens' Council of Podemos met today in Madrid, Iglesias said that there's still time for mediation to avoid such a declaration and, as such, to avoid the Spanish government applying article 155 of the Spanish Constitution (which allows them to remove a region's autonomy) or even article 116 about states of emergency.
He warned that this possibility would give the Spanish government control over all of Catalonia's institutional resources, in an "exceptional situation" and a scenario in which leaders of parties "with many votes" could end up in prison. "We have to keep insisting on the fact that until there is a unilateral declaration of independence there's still time and we have to keep on picking up the phone to avoid it," he said.
"Terrible" speech by the King
Iglesias described the king's speech on Tuesday as "terrible" because he aligned himself with the PP (Popular Party), one of the parties in the conflict, in the "typical behaviour of a Spanish monarch" that has been "punished by history" before. "The other day's mistake was tremendous, backing the repression which could be a disaster for Catalonia and for the whole of Spain," he said.
He contrasted this position with the support for dialogue from footballers like Gerard Piqué and Andrés Iniesta among other famous figures. He said he was "proud" that his party is leading this proposal for dialogue, saying that if they have to sit down to talk with the Catholic Church, they would.
Podemos' leader also pushed PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) to pay attention to its voters and not the party's "old guard" that only says "nonsense" to confront the challenge of independence, to construct an alternative to the PP. "We have to keep cool heads", said Iglesias, who insisted that his party should keep the offer open to open dialogue that could unlock the situation in Catalonia because Spain, he said, "doesn't sing" Fascist anthems or shout "go get them", rather it's a pluralistic, open country.