There is a lot of confusion as to what is going on in Spain at this moment, with The Spain Report noting that "TV presenters asking politicians and guests if there has been a declaration of independence or not, and that "Spain confused."
Wikipedia took a more pragmatic approach, and defined Catalonia's independence as lasting all of 9 seconds: from the moments Puidgemont announced independence, to his declaration literally 9 seconds later he was suspending the outcome of the Catalan referendum.
It did not help that moments ago, the following two Bloomberg headlines hit:
- CATALAN LAWMAKERS SIGN DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE: AP
- CATALAN LAWMAKERS DELAY IMPEMENTATION OF DECLARATION: AP
As Bloomberg explained, Catalan lawmakers are signing a document they are calling a declaration of independence from Spain, but are delaying its implementation. Regional president Carles Puigdemont was the first to sign the document titled "Declaration of the Representatives of Catalonia." After him, dozens of other lawmakers signed it. The signing ceremony came a few hours after Puigdemont addressed the regional parliament, saying Catalans had earned the right to independence from Spain after a referendum on Oct. 1. But he called for dialogue with Spain's government, which has condemned the referendum as illegal and unconstitutional.
Meanwhile, the Spanish government has said it would not hold any dialogue with the breakaway region, whose referendum it has repeatedly said was illegal.
So hopefully providing some much needed clarity, Spain's deputy Prime Minister, Mrs. Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, has delivered a nationwide TV address in which she made the following comments:
- SPAIN'S DEPUTY PM SAYS PM RAJOY IN CONSULTATIONS WITH OTHER PARTIES OVER RESPONSE TO CATALONIA
- SPAIN'S DEPUTY PM SAYS GOVERNMENT WILL DECIDE ON NEXT STEPS OVER CATALONIA ON WEDNESDAY
- RAJOY CALLS CABINET MEETING FOR 9AM WEDNESDAY: SAENZ
- PUIGDEMONT HAS PLUNGED CATALONIA INTO UNCERTAINTY: SAENZ
- PUIGDEMONT CAN'T DRAW CONCLUSIONS FROM INEXISTENT LAW: SAENZ
- RAJOY WILL STUDY NEXT STEPS AT CABINET MEETING: SAENZ
And so the painful waiting period has been extended for at least one more day before Spain announces whether it will or won't trigger Article 155, leading to the next, and potentially far worse, step in the Spanish sovereignty crisis.