Puigdemont may call regional election for December 20

Puigdemont was due to make a speech in the regional Parliament at 13.30, although at the time of publication, this had not yet started.

At the moment, Puigdemont has the power to dissolve the regional Parliament and call the public to the polling stations, but once Article 155 has been invoked, this can only be carried out by the State.

This latest twist means a unilateral declaration of independence (UDI) is less likely, and Spain's prosecution service has told Puigdemont that if he does so, he could be arrested.

Also, the international community is generally not willing to recognise Catalunya as a separate country – British prime minister Theresa May has already said she would not do so and, earlier today, France's president Emmanuel Macron followed suite.

A marathon regional Parliament meeting in Catalunya that started late last night and did not finish until 02.00 restarted this morning (Thursday) at 10.00.

Pro-secession parties PDeCat and ERC (Catalunya Left Republicans) have called an urgent meeting with their leaders in the region to discuss Puigdemont's latest move.

Some members have called him a 'traitor', saying he should have declared independence by now.

Puigdemont announced he had a mandate from the voters to break Catalunya away from Spain, but that he would suspend the region's independence for two months to give time for his government and the State to discuss the issue.

But the nationial government is not willing to talk unless it involves Puigdemont giving up on the whole independence idea, and is due to vote in the Senate tomorrow (Friday) on whether or not to trigger Article 155.

The government's main opposition, the PSOE, has managed to get the ruling right-wing PP party to agree not to activate Article 155 if Catalunya calls a regional election.