BARCELONA/MADRID--Catalonia will move on Monday to declare independence from Spain after holding a banned referendum, pushing the European Union nation towards a rupture that threatens the foundations of its young democracy.
Catalan President Carles Puigdemont said he favoured mediation to find a way out of the crisis but that Spain's central government had rejected this. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's government responded by calling on Catalonia to "return to the path of law" first before any negotiations.
Mireia Boya, a Catalan lawmaker from the pro-independence Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP) party, said a declaration of independence would follow a parliamentary session on Monday to evaluate the results of the Oct. 1 vote to break away. "We know that there may be disbarments, arrests ... But we are prepared, and in no case will it be stopped," she said on Twitter.
Puigdemont told the BBC he would ask the region's parliament to declare independence following the referendum, which Spain's government and constitutional court say was illegal and in which only a minority of Catalans voted. In a televised address on Wednesday night, Puigdemont said: "This moment calls for mediation. We have received various offers in the last hours and we will receive more."
Without specifically mentioning plans for an independence declaration, he added: "I am sure that in the next few days we will show the best of our country when the institutions of Catalonia will have to apply the results of the referendum. Today we are closer than yesterday to our historic wish."
Rajoy's government replied that Puigdemont had wasted an opportunity to put Catalonia back on a legal course. "If Mr. Puigdemont wants to talk or negotiate, or wants to send mediators, he knows perfectly well what he must do first: Return to the path of the law," it said in a statement.
Participants in the referendum opted overwhelmingly for independence, but turnout was only about 43 percent as Catalans who favour remaining part of Spain mainly boycotted the ballot. Spain was only restored to democracy following the death in 1975 of military dictator Francisco Franco, under whom the Catalan language and traditions were suppressed.
The constitutional crisis in Spain, the euro zone's fourth-biggest economy, has shaken the common currency and hit Spanish stocks and bonds. Madrid's borrowing costs have risen sharply and reached their highest since March on Wednesday. The cost of insuring against potential losses on Spanish bank debt and Spanish, Italian and Portuguese sovereign debt has also jumped, suggesting an impact on the wider euro zone.
Bank stocks were hit especially hard as the Ibex stock index fell below 10,000 points on Wednesday for the first time since March 2015. In a sign of the nervous public mood, Catalonia's biggest bank, Caixabank, and Spain's economy minister had earlier sought to assure bank customers that their deposits were safe.
