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The Spanish Minister of Defense and Secretary General of the ruling People’s Party, Maria Dolores de Cospedal, warned on Thursday that the Spanish government will use “all of the tools” at its disposal to avoid the celebration of an independence referendum in Catalonia. De Cospedal said that the Catalans’ plan to hold a self-determination vote is an “assault on the Constitutional system” and “the law”. According to the minister, the Spanish Government will not “bow to threats or blackmail” and will act “intelligently but with determination” if Catalonia goes ahead with a vote. “We are determined to stop ballot boxes being put out there,” she insisted, warning that anyone who “collaborates” with the organization of the referendum will “have to face the consequences and criminal charges”. “Everyone should respect the law,” she pointed out, warning that those who “manufacture ballot boxes, put out ballot boxes, or offer spaces as polling stations” will logically have to face the consequences.

Spanish President, Mariano Rajoy, needed less than 24 hours to reject his Catalan counterpart’s petition to start discussions for the celebration of an independence referendum. “It is impossible,” Rajoy warned Carles Puigdemont, urging him to present his petition before the Spanish Congress instead. “It is not possible to seek to negotiate against the true democratic mechanisms and against the law,” added the Spanish President. Despite saying that he has a “total and sincere” willingness to “reach agreements” with Catalonia, Rajoy pointed out there are “limits” on the issues he can discuss. “Neither you nor I have the authority to negotiate what we do not have the power to negotiate,” he insisted, adding that doing so would “mean hijacking the rights of the Spanish people”. Rajoy said that the Spanish rule of law “foresees mechanisms for presenting all kinds of political aspirations” if they follow “democratic channels” and “obtain the required parliamentary support”. The Spanish President also warned Puigdemont that his plans to go ahead with a vote or even a hypothetical declaration of independence are “a serious threat to coexistence and the constitutional order”.

Sinn Féin’s leader, Gerry Adams, praised “the peaceful and democratic nature” of Catalonia’s pro-independence aspirations and applauded the “positivity of the campaign” to call a referendum. “That’s a matter of the people there to strategize on, but certainly the right to a referendum is a very modest and very simple demand and it's one which the parties in government have been mandated to do,” he told the CNA. Thus, he called on the Spanish Government “to do the right thing” and lamented some of their recent actions, especially the prosecution of the Parliament’s President, Carme Forcadell and other Catalan officials “for doing their job”. Adams met with Catalan Minister for Foreign Affairs, Raül Romeva, this Wednesday in the Irish Parliament and reaffirmed his “sympathy” for Catalonia’s political aspirations and praised the “bonds” between the two communities.

The Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, and the Spanish General Prosecutor, José Manuel Maza, met on Wednesday in Barcelona behind closed doors. During the meeting, Puigdemont explained his concerns to Maza about the legal proceedings against pro-independence politicians in Catalonia. “To insist on the ‘judicialization’ of politics is, without a doubt, a mistake,” said Catalan Minister of Justice, Carles Mundó, who had accompanied the president, in later declarations to the press. The State Prosecutor, however, avoided making any statements by leaving the premises through a side door. According to a press release, published by the Public Prosecutor's Office, the meeting between Puigdemont and Maza took place as a matter of “institutional courtesy” and “questions of judicial prosecution” were not addressed. However, the Spanish General Prosecutor did answer Puigdemont’s concerns saying that he would always “fulfill his duty as the law commands”. The meeting took place only two days after Maza had announced he would act against any “possible illegal action related to the independence process”.

The Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, sent a letter on Wednesday to his Spanish counterpart, Mariano Rajoy, to formally seek the start of negotiations for an independence referendum. “As I have told you personally, and publicly said on numerous occasions, the Catalan Government has expressed its utmost willingness to find a political and negotiated solution to the demands of the Catalan people to decide their own future,” reads the letter, seen by the CNA. Puigdemont said to Rajoy that they should discuss the “terms and conditions” of an independence vote “as soon as possible” and warned that now is a “decisive moment” for both governments. According to the Catalan President, the Catalan issue demands the “utmost attention” from the Spanish government, which he urged should come sit at the negotiating table. Puigdemont explained to Rajoy in his letter that the Catalan Parliament approved a resolution on the May 18 which expressed “the will of the Government to organize a referendum in accordance with the Spanish government and in line with the standards set by the Venice Commission”.

The Spanish Minister of Health, Dolors Montserrat, defended on Wednesday that the current political debate in Catalonia, where the government plans to hold an independence referendum in autumn, does not damage Barcelona's candidacy to host the European Medicines Agency. In comments to the press from Brussels, where she held meetings with the Health Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis and the Secretary-Generals of the Commission and the Council, Montserrat said that “no one” had raised the issue of independence. “We are the government of all Catalans and we want the EMA in Barcelona. I am strongly convinced that (the independence debate) does not affect this at all. No one has asked me about it,” she insisted. Montserrat said that the Catalan capital is already “ready” to host the 900 EMA staff members at the iconic Torre Agbar building and said that Barcelona “fulfills” all the criteria.

The Catalan Government decided on Tuesday to formally request negotiations with the Spanish government on the terms and conditions for carrying out the independence referendum. After the meeting of the Executive Council, the Catalan Minister of Presidency and Government Spokesperson, Neus Munté, explained in declarations to the press that the Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, will send a letter during the next few days to the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, explaining this position. The Catalan Government avoided setting a deadline for getting a response from the Spanish government and expects a “clear” answer “reflecting the same civilized attitude as the Catalan government” and “an open mind and statesmanship,” Munté added. The Spanish Vice President, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, said that Madrid “will prevent the referendum” because the Spanish state has the “power” to do so, as it represents, she argued, “democracy”.

The independence process “won't be a problem” for investing in Catalonia, said Paul Cartuyvels, Director for European Affairs of the French multinational Bouygues, a company with more than 125,000 employees and delegations in 19 countries. Cartuyvels participated in a meeting on foreign investment with entrepreneurs and companies from Europe, the U.S. and Asia, organized by the Catalan government during the “European Business Summit”. Bouygues is interested in Catalonia’s Global 3D Priniting Hub and considers the country “a natural partner for high level innovation”. The Catalan Minister for Business and Knowledge, Jordi Baiget, who explained Catalonia’s business assets during the meeting, said that the political debate is not negatively affecting foreign investment: in fact, in the last 5 years Catalonia has seen a 36% increase in foreign investment.

Catalonia will celebrate an independence referendum no matter what happens. This is the message that Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, Vice President, Oriol Junqueras, and Foreign Affairs Minister, Raül Romeva, defended during their conference in Madrid on Monday. “We won’t leave the negotiating table without an agreement and we will wait until the last minute” to achieve one, promised Puigdemont, urging the Spanish government to engage in discussions. “I invite you to address this issue seriously and meaningfully,” the Catalan President asked his Spanish counterpart, Mariano Rajoy, adding that it would be “irresponsible” not to offer a “serious, real, and sincere” solution to the Catalans’ demands. Puigdemont also warned that his government “will never” give up the Catalans’ democratic right to self-determination. Vice President Oriol Junqueras also stressed that the referendum will take place even if the members of government face “prosecution, are banned from office or are convicted”.

The Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, replied on Friday to the Spanish Vice President’s invitation to present his referendum plans in the Spanish Congress. Puigdemont said to Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría that he would be happy to do so if an agreement between the Catalan Government and the Spanish government is previously reached. In other words, he suggested that the two executives, following the example set by the UK and Scotland in 2014, should agree on the “conditions” for an independence referendum and then submit that agreement to a vote in the Spanish chamber and the Catalan Parliament. In a brief press conference, Puigdemont celebrated what he considered as a “change in tone” coming from the Spanish government. According to him, the offer to debate the referendum in Congress is a recognition by the Spanish executive of the possibility of such a vote happening.

The National Pact for a Referendum (PNR) has gathered 500,000 signatures from institutions, organizations, elected representatives, and private individuals, both within and outside of the country, in coming to agreement with the Spanish Government over holding a referendum on Catalonia’s independence. The PNR spokesman, Joan Ignasi Elena, described this “substantial” support as a “democratic revolution” which proves that also “those who want to vote ‘no’ to Catalonia’s independence” are urging the Spanish executive to negotiate and hold the vote. In this vein, he called for the Spanish government “to open a dialogue” because “being in denial doesn’t change the reality”; on the contrary, it puts them in a “ridiculous” position.

The Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, will explain the final proposal for negotiating an independence referendum with the Spanish Government on Monday at Madrid’s town hall. Under the title “A referendum for Catalonia: an invitation to a democratic agreement” the Catalan president, the Vice president, Oriol Junqueras, and the Catalan Minister for Foreign Affairs, Raül Romeva, will give a conference, which will be a formal offer to the Spanish government for an “accorded democratic vote”. The conference will take place shortly after the presentation of the signatures for the National Pact for the Referendum, which includes several international personalities. The initial proposal by the Catalan president to discuss the issue in the Senate was declined by the Spanish chamber.

The president of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), Arthur Brooks, explained in an interview with the CNA how the impact of an independent Catalonia on the European Union “could in a strange and paradoxical way have the greatest benefit that Europe could imagine”. The renowned American social scientist said that Catalonia, with its entrepreneurial culture, could become “an example” to other countries and have a “resuscitation effect” on a “struggling” Europe. Brooks also stated that “the Catalan independence movement is not populist”. Brooks was invited by the Catalan Council of Public Diplomacy (DIPLOCAT) to give a conference on “Populism and Human Dignity” in Barcelona on May 17.

The case against Montse Venturòs, the Mayor of Berga, for not taking down the Catalan pro-independence flag from the City Hall building during elections has been reopened. Although Berga’s trial court decided not to pursue the case last March after considering that exhibiting the Catalan pro-independence flag was not “an act of propaganda” nor disobedience, the court has now accepted the appeal presented by the Public Prosecutor asking for the case to be reopened. Venturós lawyer and party colleague Benet Salellas from pro-independence CUP said that reopening the case proved “how deeply politicized the Spanish justice is and how legal procedures are the main battering ram against the pro-independence movement and the democratic demands of Catalan citizens”.

The Catalan Parliament called for the Government to “launch the necessary actions to obtain the advice, recognition, and endorsement of the Venice Commission with respect to the conditions that the referendum should fulfill in order to meet the requirements established by this body”. The Catalan Chamber also agreed to ask the Catalan executive to inform the Commission of the Catalan people’s desire to call “a referendum in agreement with the State”. This point was approved thanks to the votes of governing coalition Junts Pel Sí and the alternative left coalition Catalunya Sí que es Pot. However, the members of the other pro-independence party in the chamber, the radical left CUP, abstained from voting, since they believe that the possibility of reaching an agreement with the Spanish State regarding the referendum is not realistic.