"The attempts of blackmailing cannot be tolerated. The government would not allow it… It is necessary to respond to the blackmail carefully, very reasonably, but also with a decisiveness. The state has all necessary tools and they should be used to hinder it [the referendum], because it is an attack against our constitutional model and laws," Maria Dolores de Cospedal told the COPE broadcaster, adding that the scale of the usage of those tools should depend on the steps taken by Catalonia's authorities.
The minister added that Catalonia would not be allowed to hold even the vote similar to the informal independence referendum held in 2014.
"I can say that it would not take place one more time. We will do what we should do. I say it firmly," the Spanish official added.
Catalonia, one of Spain’s 17 autonomous communities, has long sought independence from Spain. The region’s efforts toward independence have been deemed illegal by both the Spanish government and the Constitutional Court. Despite the government’s ban, Catalonia conducted an informal independence referendum in November 2014, in which 80 percent voted in favor of independence from Spain.
On Wednesday, Catalonia’s President Carles Puigdemont sent a letter to Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy urging him to cooperate in order to agree the details of potential independence referendum.
