The president of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, has announced in an interview with the BBC that Catalonia will declare independence in a matter of days. During his conversation with the British broadcaster, he said that Catalonia will act at "the end of this week or the beginning of next".
The interview was records moments before Spanish king Felipe VI gave an official statement on the Catalonia situation in which he said that the Catalan government is acting outside of the law and with "inadmissible disloyalty". When asked what would happen if Mariano Rajoy's Spanish government intervened in Catalonia to take control of its governance, Puigdemont warned that it would be an "error that would change everything".
The president also revealed that, currently, there is no contact between his government and the one in Madrid.
Catalonia will declare independence from Spain in a matter of days, region's leader Carles Puigdemont tells the BBC https://t.co/wDEuPLLmT7
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) 3 d’octubre de 2017
EXCLUSIVE @BBCNews interview with Catalan President Carles Puigdemont - watch/listen to BBC News in coming hours and tomorrow pic.twitter.com/I7YsYTQh3u
— Tom Burridge (@TomBurridgebbc) 3 d’octubre de 2017
Catalonia Pres Carles Puigdemont tells BBC the region could declare independence from Spain by "end of this week or the beginning of next” pic.twitter.com/gGSrFETttv
— Gavin Lee (@GavinLeeBBC) 3 d’octubre de 2017