Direct rule will continue if Puigdemont is sworn in from Brussels, states Rajoy

The Spanish president, Mariano Rajoy, said that the enforcement of Article 155 and Madrid’s takeover of Catalonia’s self-government will continue if Carles Puigdemont is sworn in as Catalan president at a distance. "It is illegal and makes no sense,” stated Rajoy. The Spanish leader stressed that the measures that his government implemented following the declaration of independence will continue to be in force if Puigdemont is sworn in as Catalan president and rules Catalonia from Belgium.

The Spanish president called on all political leaders “to act responsibly” and stressed that the new Catalan government must be formed “quickly”, since “exceptional situations are never good”. Yet, Rajoy warned that the new Catalan executive must act “within the law”.     

Indeed, the Spanish government sent a blunt message to the new Catalan Parliament president, Roger Torrent, on Friday: should he bend the regulations to allow Carles Puigdemont to take office from a distance, he will have to “answer in the courts”.

The spokesman for Mariano Rajoy’s executive, Íñigo Méndez de Vigo, warned Torrent about “committing past errors”, advised him to “learn from what has happened” and insisted that the regulations allow “no possibility” of Puigdemont becoming Catalan president.

As far as the Spanish government is concerned, the Catalan Parliament regulations leave no margin for interpretation, with Méndez de Vigo insisting that “there exists no political possibility of taking decisions outside the law.”