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The Spanish Minister of Home Affairs, Jorge Fernández Diaz, on Thursday restated his belief that Catalonia would become more “vulnerable” to terrorist attacks, drug trafficking and organised crime if it were to separate from Spain. He argued that "without the protective umbrella” of Spain’s security forces and collaboration with international intelligence agencies, these threats to Catalan security would increase. "United we are stronger than divided," he reiterated. Some have regarded this warning as over-dramatic, with the Catalan Minister of Home Affairs, Ramon Espadaler, describing it as “apocalyptic.”

The President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, insisted this Tuesday he will organise a self-determination vote within the legal framework on the date agreed upon by four political groups 3 weeks ago. In a press conference following the first Cabinet Meeting of 2014, Mas ruled out the possibility of making changes in the government he chairs on the short-term, after speculations that the Catalan Left-Wing Independence Party (ERC) could sit in the Cabinet, formed by members from the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU) and independents. In addition, he identified “a cross slope” in the economic, social and political context, referring to a slight recovery, after 6 “terrible and fearsome years”.

“I want to tell you with all clarity that this consultation will not take place”, emphasised the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy. “It goes radically against the Constitution and the law” and “it frontally clashes against the indissoluble unity of Spain”, he insisted. The “unity of Spain and the sovereignty belonging to the Spanish people as a whole are not debatable and are out of any negotiation”, he added. Therefore, the Spanish Government, run by People’s Party (PP), completely rejects authorising a self-determination vote in Catalonia, whose exact question and date had been agreed on this Thursday amongst a majority of Catalan parties. The parties had decided to hold the vote on November 9, 2014 in order for the Spanish institutions to have time to negotiate the procedures. Meanwhile, the main civil society organisations pushing for Catalonia’s independence announced they were accepting the question.

Pautasso was speaking to the press in the place of Tata Martino, who has returned to Argentina for a brief trip following the death of his father. FC Barcelona’s Assistant manager expects Rayo to attack and take risks is a wide open Spanish League match at Vallecas on Saturday. Jorge Pautasso added that the new coaching team are looking to get Barça players generating pressure like they used to. Tata Martino already made it clear that he is not here to change FC Barcelona’s way of playing and Pautasso reiterated the point: “we’ll never take the style away, we have come here to add to, not take away from, what Barça has done so well in recent years. If things go bad for a while and we drop back and regroup, that doesn’t mean we’re playing on the counter attack”.

A few hours earlier, the Swiss bank Lombard Odier stated that the Catalan presidents Artur Mas and Jordi Pujol do not have any relationship with the company. The Spanish nationalist newspaper ‘El Mundo’ published a report 9 days before the Catalan elections, with the official stamp of the Spanish Police on it, accusing the incumbent President of the Catalan Government, and candidate for re-election from the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU), Artur Mas, of having secret accounts in Switzerland. The fake report also incriminated Mas’ family, the former Catalan President Jordi Pujol and two of Pujol’s sons. The report completely altered the election campaign. Now, four months after the report was issued, the Catalan Government has demanded a public rectification since some Spanish Ministers and leading members of the People’s Party validated the report at the time.

Next November 20th, Spaniards will vote for the new Spanish Parliament. They will elect one of the lists running in their province, which is their constituency. Catalans will thus elect the lists running in the four Catalan provinces. Therefore, they will not directly elect Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba (PSOE) or Mariano Rajoy (PP), but their party candidates in Catalonia, as well as parties only running in Catalonia, such as the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU), the Left-Wing Catalan Independence Party (ERC) or the Catalan Green Socialist Coalition (ICV-EUiA).