Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy demands clarity over Catalan plan

Madrid: Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Wednesday said he has asked Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont to confirm whether or not he has declared independence.

Rajoy gave a press conference following an emergency cabinet meeting convened the morning after Catalan President Carles Puigdemont told his Parliament that "Catalonia had won the right to become independent" but that he would "suspend an official declaration for some weeks" to allow for talks with Madrid. 

Rajoy accused Puigdemont of creating "deliberate confusion" and said that the Spanish government needed to know whether or not he had declared the northeastern region independent from Spain, BBC reported.

The Spanish Prime Minister said his government would base its response on the answer it was given, including any measures it might take invoking a constitutional clause allowing for direct rule.

Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution would allow Rajoy to suspend Catalonia's autonomy and impose direct rule from Madrid.

"This call -- ahead of any of the measures that the government may adopt under Article 155 of our Constitution -- seeks to offer citizens the clarity and security that a question of such importance requires," Rajoy said.

"There is an urgent need to put an end to the situation that Catalonia is going through, to return it to safety, tranquillity and calm and to do that as quickly as possible," he added.

Spain has been in turmoil since a disputed referendum in Catalonia on October 1 was declared invalid by the country's Constitutional Court.

Addressing the Catalan Parliament in Barcelona on Tuesday evening, Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont said: "We call on international states and organisations to recognise the Catalan republic as an independent and sovereign state." 

He said the "people's will" was to break away from Madrid, but he also said he wanted to "de-escalate" the tension around the issue. Puigdemont signed a declaration of independence but halted its implementation to allow negotiations. 

However, the Spanish government rejected his calls for mediation. 

Spain's Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria described Puigdemont as someone "who does not know where he is, where he's going".

"Dialogue between democrats takes place within the law, respects the rules of the game and doesn't make them up as it goes along."

About 90 percent of participants voted in favour of splitting from Spain in the referendum. But it was marred by violence after Spanish police acting on court orders attempted to stop the vote by raiding polling stations, seizing ballot boxes, beating voters and firing rubber bullets at crowds.

Ahead of Puigdemont's address on Tuesday, influential figures including Barcelona's Mayor Ada Colau and European Council President Donald Tusk had urged him to step back from declaring independence.

The European Union made clear that if Catalonia split from Spain, the region would cease to be part of the EU.