Spain today gave Catalonia’s separatist leader until next week to clarify whether he intends to push ahead with independence, warning that Madrid would take control of the region if it insisted on breaking away.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has vowed to do everything in his power to prevent Catalan secession following a banned referendum in the region, which remains deeply divided over independence.

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He held an emergency cabinet meeting after Catalonia’s president Carles Puigdemont announced yesterday that he had accepted the mandate for “Catalonia to become an independent state.”

Rajoy told lawmakers in Madrid he was giving Puigdemont until Monday to decide if he really wanted to take the path of independence.

“It is very important that Puigdemont clarify for the rest of Spaniards if he declared independence yesterday or not,” he said.

Rajoy said if Puigdemont did push ahead with secession, the central government would give him until October 19 to reconsider, before suspending Catalonia’s regional autonomy.

The deadline sets the clock ticking on Spain’s most serious political emergency since its return to democracy four decades ago.

World leaders are watching closely and uncertainty over the fate of the region of 7.5 million people has damaged business confidence, with several listed firms already moving their legal headquarters to Madrid.

Puigdemont said the referendum had given him a mandate for independence but immediately asked regional lawmakers to suspend the declaration to allow for negotiations with the central government.

Rajoy has said he will not negotiate on anything until the separatists abandon their independence drive, and rejected calls for mediation in the crisis.

“There is no mediation possible between democratic law and disobedience, illegality,” he told parliament today.

Rajoy today triggered constitution article 155, which allows Madrid to impose control over its devolved regions — an unprecedented move many fear could lead to unrest.

The article provides a warning period for any region attempting to leave Spain.

The leader of the opposition Socialist Party, Pedro Sanchez, backed Rajoy’s demand for clarification in order to “get out of the swamp”.

While separatist leaders say 90 percent of voters opted to split from Spain in the October plebiscite, less than half of the region’s eligible voters actually turned out.

The drive to break Catalonia away from Spain has raised concern for stability in a European Union still coming to terms with Britain’s shock decision to leave the bloc.

The EU today urged “full respect of the Spanish constitutional order”.

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said any unilateral independence move would be “irresponsible” and France said it would not recognise Catalonia’s “illegal” bid for statehood.

Crowds of thousands gathered outside the parliament building in Barcelona yesterday ahead of Puigdemont’s speech, waving Catalan flags and banners and screaming “democracy” in the hope of witnessing history in the making.