BARCELONA — Catalonia’s secessionist leaders spent Thursday debating what to do — a call for independence from Spain or snap elections — as chaos and confusion swirled around the fate of Spain’s wealthiest region.
As deadlines loomed, and threats from Madrid of a takeover mounted, Catalonia’s pro-independence president, Carles Puigdemont, first scheduled, then canceled, then rescheduled, announcements about what would happen next.
Finally, Puigdemont appeared in the government palace and read a short statement, saying he would not call for snap elections.
Puigdement said the regional parliament must decide what will happen next — a sign that his governing coalition was tearing apart.
The Catalan parliament was scheduled to meet later Thursday or Friday, when perhaps more clarity will emerge.
People pack Sant Jaume square in Barcelona as they protest the Spanish government. (Emilio Morenatti/AP)
Significantly, Puigdemont did not renew calls for the autonomous region to declare independence.
Instead, Puigdemont denounced what he described as heavy-handed tactics by the central government in Madrid.
With these gestures, Puigdemont and his allies hope Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy may suspend his push to take control of the Catalan government, including its police, public media and finances.
Puigdemont reportedly sought a promise by Rajoy that the Spanish senate would not approve the invocation of Article 155 of the 1978 Spanish constitution, which would allow the central government to seize control in Catalonia.
Rajoy last week promised to invoke Article 155 — a “nuclear option” that has never before been tried — would be invoked “to restore institutional legality and normality.”
Puigdemont not only faced pressure from Madrid but from his fellow secessionists.
As rumors swirled that he was about to walk away from a declaration of independence, his former supporters denounced him on social media and the streets as a coward and a traitor.
A former ally called him a Judas on Twitter.
Fellow party members said they would defect — and his second-in-power reportedly threatened to resign.
The separatists in Catalonia, led by Puigdemont, staged a chaotic referendum this month despite the fact that the courts had declared it unconstitutional.
More than 2 million people ultimately cast ballots for independence, though the turnout for the referendum was around 40 percent of eligible voters.
During the referendum, Spanish National Police and Civil Guard officers used harsh tactics, in some cases beating voters with rubber batons and dragging people away from the ballot boxes.
In Madrid, people called the flip-flopping and last-minute cancellations “agonizing” and “unprofessional.” Commentators decried the “irresponsibility” of keeping everyone on pins and needs.
But the general sentiment was the drama was part of a strategic plan to negotiate.
“Neither of the sides wants to go through to the most extreme scenario,” said Ignacio Escolar, editor in chief of the El Diario newspaper. “Otherwise they already would have done it. I think we are in the last minutes of a negotiation that has time all the way up through the end of senate’s session tomorrow.”
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