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No to any dialogue with the Catalan government and no to international mediation. Yes to the activation of article 155 of the Spanish Constitution and yes to the Spanish government's own extraordinary demand to Catalan president Puigdemont that he must clarify to them within five days if he proclaimed independence or not in Parliament last Tuesday. These four elements define the corners of the playing field marked out by the Spanish government, in its response to the 'time out' that the Catalan government had called by suspending the effects of the declaration of independence in that parliamentary session. Nothing that Puigdemont said to Parliament on Tuesday has had any effect on the Madrid government, which does not want to know about any pause to dissipate the tension. The Catalan president may win over allies that he did not have until now in Catalonia, as has been seen with Ada Colau, or even some socialist leaders who have thanked him for his restraint. It also helps win media support in Europe and the United States. But Madrid moves on the field of play as though it is living in another world. Its own world. It plays in a different league: its way of playing the game is to close its ears to what is happening around it and keep going forward at the same rate.

It doesn't matter that Mariano Rajoy might feel disconcerted by Puigdemont's move. The Spanish government decided its strategy some time ago: it is only working with two scenarios. One is the surrender and withdrawal by the Catalan authorities of their political project for independence and, from that point on, a subsequent negotiation on applying the consequences of the defeat in a slightly-less brutal way. The other is the use of its entire judicial arsenal to take control of the power that still eludes it in Catalonia, which in practice is very little, but is symbolic. On the other hand, Puigdemont, in a moved aimed at winning allies and gaining time so that one of the multiple initiatives for international mediation might start to solidify, has had no objections in going back on everything he had planned. Why? many have asked. There is no convincing explanation; many affirm that taking a step back would take him out of the playing field - and a step forward would do the same thing, according to many of his collaborators. And from this point onwards, the hypothetical mediation was likely to be much more difficult. Because of that, he has opted to try and conserve his current position so that nobody can force him off a field of play that is mostly dominated by a much more powerful opponent.

Article 155 of the Constitution, under which Madrid can suspend the Catalan government's powers, has been set in motion and will not be stopped; Spain's High Court has once again summoned, on sedition charges, the leaders of the two major pro-independence groups, the ANC's Jordi Sànchez and Òmnium's Jordi Cuixart, as well as the head of the Catalan police, Josep Lluís Trapero, and these cases will not stop either. Nobody believes that the Public Prosecutor will not end up demanding for them to be held in preventive custody. So the start of next week is looking hugely complicated. This past Wednesday's debate in the Spanish Congress left little margin for optimism. The weakness of the Spanish Socialist Party, and the sight of the Partido Popular's Hernando and Citizens Party leader Rivera acting with great belligerence have drawn the outline of Spanish policy on Catalonia: "Get stuck into 'em, and don't worry about being polite."