Time has run out and this morning in Madrid the Catalan president Puigdemont will have to clearly tell the Spanish premier Rajoy whether the Barcelona government has proclaimed independence or intends to renounce it beyond the controversial outcome of the referendum the other Sunday.
Madrid's ultimatum expires at 10: if Catalonia confirms independence, countermeasures by the central government will immediately be triggered, which can go as far as placing the region under commission and arresting its president, Puigdemont. If, on the other hand, Catalonia renounces secession, negotiations will open to change the Spanish Constitution and recognize greater autonomy, including fiscal, for Barcelona and for all of Catalonia, on the model of what happens for the Basque Country.
All of Spain is holding its breath and so is Europe, but on the eve of the hour of truth the Catalan president was sibylline: "Peace and democracy - he said - are the principles at the basis of the decisions that must be taken: we must respond with democratic values to impositions and aggressions”. But then he asked Rajoy for a margin of two months to negotiate a political exit from the clash over independence and urged a meeting with Madrid "as soon as possible"