Prime minister rules out new meeting with Mas on referendum

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Tuesday ruled out a new meeting with Catalonia regional premier Artur Mas, at least under the terms laid out by the instigator of the northeastern region’s drive for independence. In an informal chat with reporters, Rajoy said he has not discarded the idea completely — “We’ll see,” he replied when quizzed — but made it clear he does not expect anything to be gained from holding talks while Mas insists on a behind-closed-doors encounter to discuss the content of the question he hopes to pose to Catalans in a referendum next year. Mas said on Monday that in “the near future” he would seek an audience with Rajoy to hammer out a route map toward an “agreed upon” referendum.

“A meeting to talk about what?” the prime minister responded to a reporter’s question. “I have made my position clear.” Rajoy added that he has no intention of negotiating a question on a referendum that he has consistently stated will not take place. The government prefers another option: that the secessionist parties in Catalonia present their proposals in Congress, where they will be voted down by the Popular Party and the Socialists.

Rajoy reiterated that Congress cannot authorize a self-determination referendum as it goes against the Spanish Constitution. Asked if the prospect of a unilateral declaration of independence by Catalonia made his head spin, Rajoy shot back: “We’ll see whose head spins the most.”