In a mature democracy, what is legal is decided by parliament... Our process is legitimised by parliament and by the ballot box.

I could not disobey the will of the Catalan parliament.

As president, I have the right to call a referendum based on a law that the Catalan parliament has approved.

Spain's constitution was introduced to cement democracy after Franco's dictatorship, but this government is exploiting its wording as a means to deny us our right to vote.

There's a serious and worrying return to the fall of democracy in Spain, and it's not just us who are realising that.

It is crucial that there is a government in Madrid secure enough to engage with Catalonia politically rather than continue the denial and legal obstructionism of the Rajoy years.