The Spanish government will move to suspend Catalonia’s autonomy on Saturday, media reports said Thursday, after the region’s leaders failed to drop a push for independence. The central government will trigger Article 155 of the country’s constitution, after Catalan President Carles Puigdemont missed a deadline of 10 a.m. local time to meet its demand to pullback from a breakaway. Instead, Puigdemont called once again for negotiations, saying the region’s parliament could set a vote on a declaration of independence — currently suspended, after a referendum backed the move — if Madrid declined to talk. “Consequently, the Spanish government will continue with the steps laid out in Article 155 of the constitution to restore the legality of self-government in Catalonia,” the Spanish government said in a letter. If home rule is suspended in Catalonia — known as the “nuclear option” — the central government would likely impose direct rule on the region, a big contributor to the country’s economy.
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