Catalan Separatist Urges Unity as Pressure Builds in Spain

Catalonia's regional vice president Oriol Junqueras said separatists need to stop bickering and get behind the last-ditch effort by Catalonia's president to negotiate with Spain's central government, AP reported.

"We must preserve the unity that is necessary to go all the way on this path to a republic," Junqueras said. "We must reiterate our belief in unity, in unity behind our government and the majority of the parliament."

Fissures have appeared among Catalan separatists ever since regional President Carles Puigdemont announced Tuesday that he was delaying an outright declaration of independence "for a few weeks" in hopes that he could open negotiations with Madrid.

That decision disappointed many diehard separatists who want the prosperous northeastern region of 7.5 million people to leave Spain. The far-left party CUP and the main grassroots secessionist group, National Catalan Assembly, have both asked Puigdemont not to wait any longer.

Junqueras delivered his message to 200 members of his Republic Left party at its headquarters in Barcelona. The party forms a governing coalition with Puigdemont's conservatives in Catalonia's regional parliament and its allegiance is critical to the secessionist drive.

Junqueras said the best way forward was for secessionists to show "the world who it is who wants to offer dialogue and who rejects it."

Spain's conservative government, led by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, is also pressing Puigdemont. It has given him a Monday deadline to clarify his position on independence as well as an ultimatum to fall in line with Spain's laws by Oct. 19 or face losing some or all of the region's autonomous powers.

Besides being flanked politically, Puigdemont is facing an exodus of banks and businesses relocating their headquarters from Catalonia to other parts of Spain over fears they would be out of the common European Union market in the case of secession.

Spain's government has also warned that the constitutional crisis in Catalonia is already hurting the economy.

Puigdemont claimed he has a mandate for secession after the "Yes" vote for independence won a referendum Oct. 1 that Spain's top court had suspended on grounds it's likely unconstitutional. Only 43 percent of the eligible voters cast ballots amid a brutal Spanish police crackdown. Parties against secession boycotted the vote.

The European Union supports a united Spain and no foreign country is behind Catalonia's separatists.