Spain\u2019s government defiantly rejected calls for mediation Wednesday over Catalonia\u2019s push for independence, which the country\u2019s king warned was endangering national stability.<\/p>\n
As the European Union urged dialogue to ease the standoff between separatists in the northeastern region and Madrid, Catalan leaders said they could unilaterally declare independence as early as Monday.<\/p>\n
The tone of the crisis sharpened with Catalonia\u2019s president denouncing the king\u2019s intervention and Spain\u2019s government rejecting any possible talks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government will not negotiate over anything illegal and will not accept blackmail,\u201d said a statement from Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
The dispute is Spain\u2019s worst political crisis in decades and images of police beating unarmed Catalans taking part in Sunday\u2019s banned independence vote sparked global concern.<\/p>\n
Catalonia\u2019s president Carles Puigdemont called the central government\u2019s policies \u201cdisastrous\u201d as the region\u2019s leaders pushed on with its bid to break away from Spain, angering Madrid and raising the risk of further unrest.<\/p>\n
Spain\u2019s key IBEX 35 stock index plunged by more than three percent Wednesday in the ongoing turbulence, with some big Catalan banks down more than five percent.<\/p>\n
\u201cPolitical risk is back on the agenda in Europe,\u201d NFS Macro analyst Nick Stamenkovic told AFP.<\/p>\n
Catalan \u2018republic\u2019<\/p>\n
After meetings in the regional parliament on Wednesday, pro-independence lawmakers called a full session next Monday to debate the final results of the vote.<\/p>\n
\u201cAccording to how the session goes, independence could be declared,\u201d a regional government source told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n
Mireia Boya of the radical leftwing separatist CUP said it would be \u201ca plenary to proclaim the republic\u201d of independent Catalonia.<\/p>\n
King Felipe VI on Tuesday branded the independence drive illegal and undemocratic, throwing his weight behind the national government.<\/p>\n
Catalan leaders \u201cwith their irresponsible conduct could put at risk the economic and social stability of Catalonia and all of Spain\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n
Accusing them of \u201cdisloyalty\u201d, the king said that the state had to \u201censure constitutional order\u201d.<\/p>\n
Puigdemont angrily rejected this, saying in a televised address: \u201cThe king has adopted the (national) government\u2019s position and policies which have been disastrous with regard to Catalonia. He is deliberately ignoring millions of Catalans.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also accused the national government of failing to respond to proposals for mediation in the crisis.<\/p>\n
\u2018Illegal\u2019 referendum<\/p>\n
A declaration of independence would intensify the conflict with the central government, which along with the national courts has branded the referendum illegal.<\/p>\n
Madrid has the power to suspend the semi-autonomous status that Catalonia currently enjoys under Spain\u2019s system of regional governments.<\/p>\n
That would further enrage Catalan protesters, who say they are being repressed by Spain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Spain\u2019s government defiantly rejected calls for mediation Wednesday over Catalonia\u2019s push for independence, which the country\u2019s king warned was endangering national stability. As the European Union urged dialogue to ease the standoff between separatists in the northeastern region and Madrid, Catalan leaders said they could unilaterally declare independence as early as Monday. The tone of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":117,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[884],"class_list":{"0":"post-116","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-spain-rejects-calls-for-catalan-mediation"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bartabangla.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bartabangla.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bartabangla.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bartabangla.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bartabangla.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bartabangla.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bartabangla.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bartabangla.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bartabangla.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bartabangla.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}