Catalunya crisis: Rajoy may trigger Article 155 this weekend

CATALUNYA regiona president Carles Puigdemont has neither confirmed whether he has declared independence, nor retracted his secession pretensions – and his deadline imposed by the State expired today (Thursday).

Now, Spain's government will hold an extraordinary meeting on Saturday morning as a preliminary step to triggering Article 155 of the Constitution, which will remove Catalunya's self-governing powers and place it under State rule.

Puigdemont wrote to Spanish president Mariano Rajoy on Monday, saying he had suspended his declaration of independence to give both parties time to openly discuss the issue.

But the central government refuses to discuss anything they consider 'illegal' – which includes any hint of an agreed referendum, or any suggestion of independence.

Effectively, Puigdemont has been presented with the choice of either giving up the whole idea, or of his government being axed.

Puigdemont has made it clear to Rajoy that if Spain invokes Article 155, he will lift the suspension on his independence declaration, scrap his invitation to dialogue, and go ahead with breaking Catalunya away from Spain.

Rajoy has not given a statement to the press, and neither has PSOE leader Pedro Sánchez – both of whom are in Brussels at an EU summit with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker – but PSOE representatives back in Spain said they trusted any application of Article 155 would be 'as limited and as brief as possible', since there 'is still time' to find a solution through two-way discussions.

Left-wing opposition party Podemos, which is anti-independence but agrees a non-binding referendum should be allowed, has totally condemned the 'autocratic' decision to apply Article 155.

Article 155 has never been triggered in the 39-year history of the Spanish Constitution, and its application is likely to cause backlash.

It is a tool allowing the State to 'control' a 'rebellious' and 'disobedient' regional government – and the autonomy of Spain's 17 regions has been considered sacred and inviolable since December 1978 when the Magna Carta was signed, with any indication the State is 'treading on the patch' of the regions being met with outrage.