Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, has told the national council of PDeCAT (Catalan European Democratic Party) that, if the Spanish state decides to employ article 155 of the Spanish Constitution and intervene in Catalonia's autonomy, it will mean that the central government has categorically rejected their offer of dialogue and, as such, he will have to apply the result of the 1st October referendum and lift the suspension on the declaration of independence.
Puigdemont made this statement after the party's general coordinator, Marta Pascal, guaranteed him "full complicity" from the party in lifting the suspension if Mariano Rajoy's government activates article 155. The party has thus shown their support hours before the deadline to revoke the declaration runs out at 10am this Thursday.
Puigdemont and Pascal were the only ones to speak during the meeting, and both highlighted the need to fulfil the mandate from the referendum, as long as the central government decides to reject offers of dialogue.
They didn't discuss elections, but agreed that the activation of article 155 would give grounds for calling Parliament in the coming days to agree an official response. The president even joked, according to people present at the meeting, that he wouldn't do the same thing as the king emeritus, Juan Carlos I, who famously apologised for a controversial elephant hunting trip he took to Botswana, saying "I'm sorry, I made a mistake. It won't happen again". Puigdemont said that this is what the Spanish government is hoping he will say.
That isn't to say they ignored the seriousness of the moment, emphasising that lifting the suspension would mean entering into "unknown territory".
Puigdemont arrived and left Barcelona's World Trade Center for the meeting to applause.