Carles Puigdemont, who has been chosen to lead Catalonia to independence from Spain, called today for the secession process to start in his first speech to local lawmakers as they were on the verge of voting him in as new regional leader.
"We need... To start the process to set up an independent state in Catalonia," he said in a speech to the wealthy region's parliament, which was followed by loud applause.
After months of in-fighting, Catalonia's pro-independence faction that won regional parliamentary elections in September finally came to an agreement this weekend over who should lead the new local government.
The focus of the squabble had been Artur Mas, the incumbent, separatist regional president whom the far-left CUP party -- part of the secessionist faction that won the polls -- rejected over his support for austerity and corruption scandals linked to his party.
With Mas stubbornly refusing to step aside as a weekend deadline to form a government loomed, Catalonia seemed to be heading for fresh elections, which would have been the fourth since 2010.
But at the last minute, Mas agreed to step aside on Saturday, naming the relatively unknown journalist and politician Puigdemont as his successor.
This is expected to open the door for the now-united separatist lawmakers, who form an absolute majority in Catalonia's parliament, to vote in Puigdemont as new president later on Sunday evening.
The 53-year-old Catalan-language journalist and mayor of Girona will then appoint his cabinet.
He told parliament that apart from launching the secession process, Catalonia would need to offer to negotiate "with the Spanish state, the European Union and the international community."
The last-ditch agreement to form a Catalan government stands in stark contrast to the situation in Madrid, where the national government is in limbo following inconclusive December polls.
Incumbent Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's conservative Popular Party (PP) came top in the December 20 elections but lost its absolute majority, leaving him struggling to form a coalition government.
"The (separatist) coalition is profiting from the power vacuum in Madrid," headlined online daily El Espanol today.
Faced with the prospect of secession by Spain's richest region, Rajoy insisted yesterday that the country's next national government should have "an ample parliamentary base with the stability and capacity to face the separatist challenge".
