Catalan president Carles Puigdemont has offered dialogue "with no prior conditions" to the Spanish government and proposed an initial meeting between two representatives from the Catalan government and two from the Spanish government to agree on a mediator.
The day after the declaration and immediate suspension of independence to open a period of dialogue, the president has reiterated his government's wish for negotiations in an interview with the US television channel CNN. Puigdemont described the current political moment as being of "maximum importance" and, as such, said that "there is no prior condition to sitting down and negotiating", although he did call for any dialogue to take place in "appropriate conditions". "Maybe it would help the dialogue if two people from the Catalan government and two people from the Spanish government simply agreed on one simple thing: to nominate a mediator," argued the president.
Recognition of the Catalan reality
Nonetheless, Puigdemont argued, any conversations have to be based on a recognition of the reality of the situation. He called for the reality in Catalonia to not be "ignored": "dialogue and hypothetical debates have to start from the recognition of the reality". For the president, that reality is that the "relationship between Catalonia and Spain isn't working and there's a majority of Catalans who want Catalonia to be an independent State".
The president added the nuance that, whilst the majority of Catalans want an independent country, they want to get there "in agreement with the Spanish state" and, as such, asked "to talk without conditions". "We have to sit down and really talk."
This was Puigdemont's first public statement since his appearance in the Catalan Parliament this Tuesday to declare independence, before immediately suspending the effects of the declaration and opening a period of dialogue with the Spanish government.
Despite this offer, the Spanish prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, has this Wednesday opened the path to applying article 155 of the Spanish Constitution, which would lead to central control over Catalonia, by sending Puigdemont a requirement to clarify whether independence has been formally declared. Constitutionally, such a notification is the first step to applying the article and suspending the autonomy of Catalonia.