Spain’s Constitutional Court has suspended a session of the Catalan parliament scheduled for Monday in which local leaders were expected to unilaterally declare Catalonia’s independence.
Spain's top court blocks Catalan parliament's independence push
The ruling followed a legal challenge by the Catalan Socialist Party, which opposes secession, El Pais newspaper reported.
Catalan President Carles Puigdemont said on Wednesday he favoured mediation to resolve the standoff, but that Spain’s central government had rejected this.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s government responded by calling on Catalonia to “return to the path of law” first before any negotiations.
In an interview with Spanish news agency EFE on Thusday, Rajoy said the solution to the Catalan crisis was a prompt return to legality and “a statement as soon as possible that there will not be a unilateral declaration of independence, because that will also avoid greater evils,” Rajoy said, without elaborating.
Participants in Sunday’s referendum backed independence with 90 percent of the vote, but turnout was only about 43 percent as most Catalans who prefer to remain part of Spain boycotted the ballot, which Madrid has called unconstitutional.