BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy says his government will announce on Saturday the specific measures it plans to take control of the Catalonia region now that an agreement has been reached with the country’s main opposition parties.
Rajoy refused to confirm Friday if the agreement with the Socialists included plans to hold regional elections in Catalonia in January, as announced by the party’s negotiator earlier in the day.
His government also reached agreement with the center-right, pro-business Ciudadanos (Citizens) party.
Rajoy, commenting on the unprecedented constitutional step he is taking to assume control of Catalonia, said: “The goal is double: the return to legality and the recovery of institutional normalcy.”
The prime minister said the Catalan crisis was only discussed on the sidelines of a European leaders’ summit because the political deadlock is an internal Spanish affair.
But he says his fellow leaders share his concern that Catalan separatist authorities have acted against the rule of law and democracy.
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