In an extraordinary showdown over the future of the country, the Spanish and Catalan parliaments staged dueling sessions Friday — as the central government pressed for permission to take over control of the breakaway region, and the secessionists in Catalonia threatened to declare independence.
In Madrid, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy urged the Senate to grant the central government unprecedented powers to establish control over Catalonia, which earlier this month defied Spanish authorities and held a referendum that backed the push for statehood.
If the Senate invokes the never-before-used Article 155 of Spain’s 1978 constitution, the central government could move swiftly to remove the Catalan president, suspend his ministers and assume authority over the region’s public media, police and finances.
Rajoy told the Senate that his government had repeatedly tried to rein in the secessionists in Catalonia. He scoffed at Catalan President Carles Puigdemont’s repeated offers of “dialogue” to end the impasse.
“The word dialogue is a lovely word. It creates good feelings,” Rajoy said. “But dialogue has two enemies: those who abuse, ignore and forget the laws, and those who only want to listen to themselves, who do not want to understand the other party.”
Rajoy urged the Senate to approve Article 155 “to prevent Catalonia from being abused.”
“Catalans must be protected from an intolerant minority that is awarding itself ownership of Catalonia, and is trying to subject all Catalans to the yoke of its own doctrine,” the prime minister said.
[Whatever happens in Catalonia, anger with Spain is a sign of things to come]
In Barcelona, meanwhile, separatist lawmakers filed a motion to vote later Friday on whether to forge ahead and establish an independent republic despite clear rifts within the region.
As the Catalan parliament began its session, shouts of “independence!” and “democracy!” rose from an antechamber where hundreds of onlookers, including dozens of regional mayors, had gathered.
The eruption was answered by disdain from anti-secessionists in the chamber. A member of the Catalan Socialist Party, Daniel Fernández, asked: “What is this? The storming of the Bastille?”
Carlos Carrizosa of the Ciudadanos party decried the prospect of a declaration of independence, comparing it to a coup. He pointed at Puigdemont and said: “You, president, have been pro-independence your whole life. This whole plan was already laid out.”
The president of Spain’s Basque region, Inigo Urkullu, a key intermediary between Rajoy and Puigdemont, told journalists the situation is Catalonia “was very worrying” and required “responsibility” on the part of the two sides.”
But he allowed himself note of optimism. “I think there there is still time to reach a solution,” Urkullu said in Spanish and then added in the local Basque language. “And we are trying.”
On Thursday, facing a looming deadline to act, Puigdemont appeared in the government palace in Barcelona and said the regional parliament must decide what will happen next.
Puigdemont’s words Thursday clearly upset many of his constituents, who believed they were getting close to forming a new republic.
“They don’t care about the people, because we already voted for independence,” said Joana Romera, 25, a university student who had come to the Catalan government palace to hear what Puigdemont had to say.
“At the end, it’s always the politicians who decide,” she said, flashing disappointment and anger. “We’re in the same situation as before.”
Puigdemont denounced what he described as heavy-handed tactics by the central government in Madrid.
“I have considered the possibility of calling elections,” Puigdemont said. But he ruled it out because “there are not enough guarantees” from the central government not to seize control of the region.
Puigdemont reportedly sought a promise from Rajoy that the Spanish senate would not vote on Article 155 — a “nuclear option” that has never been tried.
Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, the deputy prime minister in the central government, told the senate on Thursday that “secessionism’s trip to nowhere must reach its point of return, a return to lawfulness.”
She pressed for the implementation of Article 155, calling the pro-independence leaders “beyond the law.”
“By refusing to comply with the law, they have sown mistrust,” she said. “The damage to social harmony is overwhelming; the damage to trust is very deep. They have taken institutional problems down into the streets of Catalonia and into the homes of Catalans.”
Inés Arrimadas, a leader of the Citizens party, which serves in the opposition in Barcelona, displayed a frustration felt by many.
“Not even Kafka’s trial was as Kafkaesque as this process,” she said. “That’s enough, Mr. Puigdemont. How much longer are we Catalans going to have to deal with this?”
Addressing Puigdemont, she said: “You use the name of the Catalans. But we Catalans are divided. And you are hurting Catalonia.”
More than 2 million people cast ballots earlier this month for independence, though the turnout for the referendum was around 40 percent of eligible voters.
During the vote, Spanish national police and Guardia Civil paramilitary officers used harsh tactics, in some cases beating voters with rubber batons and dragging people away from the ballot boxes.
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