Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy will appear this Wednesday afternoon in the Spanish Congress, the day after Catalan president Carles Puigdemont will appear in the Catalan Parliament in the midst of rumours of a vote on a declaration of independence. Rajoy had announced the appearance on the night of 1st October in his speech at the end of voting in the referendum. He had also then said he would start a round of meetings with the other parties in the Spanish parliament, although he has so far only met with the leaders of PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) and Ciudadanos (Citizens), Pedro Sánchez and Albert Rivera.
"We will prevent the independence of Catalonia. We will take the measures necessary. Secession will not occur and the Spanish government will prevent it", said Rajoy today to leaders of his Popular Party during their Leadership Committee meeting, according to party spokesperson Pablo Casado. Casado did not want to give more details, however, like what the measures might be or whether the support of the opposition PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) would be necessary to invoke article 155 of the Spanish Constitution (which would allow the central government to revoke Catalan autonomy). He did say that PP hopes to "remain together" with PSOE. What he did say was that, if Puigdemont declares independence tomorrow, he could "end up like the one who declared it 83 years ago". The reference is to former Catalan president Lluís Companys who, in 1934, declared the independence of Catalonia for which he ended up arrested and imprisoned.
However, it's unknown whether Rajoy will discuss measures to undertake on Wednesday or what such measures could be.
Sánchez asked Rajoy in a meeting on 2nd October to reestablish contact with Puigdemont and "immediately" open negotiations and to also promote dialogue with the other political parties, including Podemos (We Can). Such suggestions were rejected, however, unless the Catalan government renounces its independence plans. This was the same response Rajoy gave Podemos' leader Pablo Iglesias when he offered to mediate in the conflict.
For his part, Rivera asked him to immediately enact article 155 of the Spanish Constitution and remove Catalonia´s autonomy, in the fear that the Catalan government won't hold back on a unilateral declaration of independence "with a registered fax from the Constitutional Court". Deputy prime minister, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, said on a radio broadcast that they would also look to work with other parties to take a step like invoking article 155 whilst Casado said their first option was to avoid having to fall back on it. Central government sources revealed some days ago that, according to their predictions, the article could be applied within 5 days.
Rajoy, however, didn't speak after this meeting. He just thanked PSOE and Ciudadanos for "their sincerity and loyalty" to the constitutional order. Sources close to him say he had promised to "responsibly study the proposal from the rest of the political parties considering that they're only animated by the defence of the common good and the democratic system".