SPAIN: Pro-independence Catalans defy Felipe VI”s warning

Pro-independence Catalan leaders are pressing ahead despite an emphatic warning from King Felipe VI. Catalan President Carles Puigdemont said he would declare independence “at the end of this week or the beginning of next”. The European Union said it was “time to talk” to find a solution to the crisis in Catalonia. Commission Vice-President Frans […]

Pro-independence Catalan leaders are pressing ahead despite an emphatic warning from King Felipe VI.

Catalan President Carles Puigdemont said he would declare independence “at the end of this week or the beginning of next”.

The European Union said it was “time to talk” to find a solution to the crisis in Catalonia.

Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans said the Spanish constitution must be followed.

In his intervention, late on Tuesday, King Felipe branded Sunday’s referendum in the north-eastern Spanish region illegal and undemocratic.

But correspondents say his failure to acknowledge the violent repression of the vote has fired up rather than deterred independence supporters.