Rajoy dismisses full Catalan cabinet and calls elections for December 21

Sacking the full Catalan government, dissolving Parliament and calling an election on December 21. That's the Spanish government’s answer to Catalonia's declaration of independence. The Spanish president, Mariano Rajoy, said that he has dismissed Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, Vice President Oriol Junqueras, and all ministers of the Catalan cabinet.

In a short statement from Madrid after an emergency cabinet meeting, the Spanish president announced that his government also wants to close the Public Diplomacy Council of Catalonia (Diplocat) and all Catalan delegations abroad, except that of Brussels. He also insisted that the current permanent representative of the Catalan government to the EU, Amadeu Altafaj, and the delegate in Madrid, Ferran Mascarell, are also to be dismissed.