BARCELONA: Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont said Tuesday he had accepted the “mandate of the people” for his region’s independence from Spain but suspended the declaration to allow more time for talks with Madrid.
In a speech to regional lawmakers in Barcelona, Puigdemont stopped short of declaring an outright split but left the door to secession open, leaving some political rivals scratching their heads. “I assume the mandate of the people for Catalonia to become an independent republic,” he said.
But the 54-year-old asked the Catalan Parliament to “suspend the effects of the independence declaration to initiate dialogue in the coming weeks.”
The central government fired back, with a spokesman rejecting what Madrid termed Catalonia’s “tacit” independence declaration.
Political leaders in Catalonia, Spain and Europe have come out against an independence declaration, concerned over the country’s biggest upheaval since its transition to democracy in the 1970s.
EU nations are watching developments closely amid concern that Catalan independence could put further pressure on the bloc still dealing with the fallout from Britain’s shock decision to leave. Police deployed en masse around the regional Parliament, blocking public access to a park that houses the building as crowds watched the session on giant screens, waving Catalan flags and some brandishing signs reading “democracy.”
Reaction among those who had hoped to witness a historic moment for a region deeply-divided over independence was mixed. “In essence we’re happy but I was expecting more,” said 66-year-old Pere Valldeneu.
Merce Hernandez, a 35-year-old architect, said: “I am very emotional, this is a historic day. I’m satisfied.”
Madrid has repeatedly said it would not negotiate on Catalonia’s independence. “We call on Puigdemont not to do anything irreversible, not to pursue a path of no return and not to make any unilateral independence declaration,” government spokesman Inigo Mendez de Vigo told reporters earlier Thursday. A source from the central government’s representative office in Catalonia said security had been tightened at Catalan airports and railway stations in anticipation of possible protests at Puigdemont’s possible independence announcement.
At stake is the future of a region of 7.5 million people deeply divided over independence, one of Spain’s economic powerhouses whose drive to break away has raised concern for stability in the EU.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has vowed to use everything in his power to prevent independence and has even refused to rule out imposing direct rule over the semi-autonomous region — an unprecedented move many fear could lead to unrest.
EU President Donald Tusk also urged Puigdemont against making a decision that would make “dialogue impossible.”
Around 90 percent of those who cast ballots voted for independence but the poll was poorly monitored and many Catalans opposed to secession boycotted an illegal plebiscite that witnessed a violent police crackdown.
Catalonia’s independence put on hold
Catalonia’s independence put on hold
Winter pierces Kyiv homes after Russia knocks out heat
- The war’s fourth winter could be the coldest and darkest yet
- On Saturday, Kyiv’s heat, power and water, hit hard by a strike two nights earlier, were shut down again
KYIV: Kyiv residents huddled against bitter winter cold inside their unheated apartments on Saturday as engineers struggled to restore power, water and heat knocked out in the latest salvo of Russian strikes.
Russia has regularly conducted intense bombardments of Ukraine’s energy system since it invaded its neighbor in 2022.
The war’s fourth winter could be the coldest and darkest yet, with the accumulated damage to the grid bringing utilities to the brink, and temperatures already below minus 10 degrees Celsius (14 F) and set to plunge further this week.
On Saturday, Kyiv’s heat, power and water, hit hard by a strike two nights earlier, were shut down again as engineers tried to repair the ruined power grid.
Galina Turchin, a 71-year-old pensioner living on Kyiv’s badly affected eastern bank, had a window covered by plastic sheeting after it was blown out when drone debris hit another part of her building during the last overnight attack.
She said she had not cooked food for two days, eating whatever had been left in their kitchen before the power, water and heat went out, and would now try to cook on a gas camping stove.
“We hope they will give us heat. If not power, then at least heat,” she said, standing wrapped in layers of jumpers in her kitchen.
The city administration said around noon local time (1000 GMT) on Saturday that the state grid operator Ukrenergo had ordered the city’s power system to be shut down, and that the water and heating systems, as well as electrified public transport, would also stop working as a result.
Less than an hour later, Ukrenergo said engineers had managed to remedy the immediate issue, which had been caused by damage from previous Russian strikes, and that power was coming back online in parts of Kyiv.
Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said the heating system, which in Ukrainian cities is centralized and pumps hot water to homes in pipes, was also coming back on, and that she expected heat supply to be fully restored on Saturday.
However, she said that the power situation in the capital was still difficult, as the grid was badly damaged and people were using more electric heaters because of the cold.
On Friday, with about half of Kyiv’s apartment blocks left without heating after the latest Russian missile and drone attack, Mayor Vitali Klitschko urged residents who had a warm place to go to temporarily leave the city.
Turchin, the pensioner in her cold apartment, said she had a village cottage in another region but it was unheated and would take three days to warm up with logs.
“The neighbor wrote. She said it was already minus 17 (Celsius) there last night.”
