Carles Puigdemont, the president of Catalonia, on Tuesday evening put his signature to a document that declared the region’s independence from Spain, but then said the move would not be implemented for several weeks.

The text, proclaiming the constitution of a “Catalan republic as an independent and sovereign state”, was signed by 72 members of Catalonia’s parliament but appeared to have little legal credibility.

The move, a significant but largely symbolic act to try to pressure the Spanish government to negotiate over Catalan independence, came shortly after a speech by Mr Puigdemont in which he had seemingly stopped short of the unilateral declaration of independence feared by Madrid and the European Union after a referendum vote marred by police violence.

In his address, which did not lead to a vote in the chamber, Mr Puigdemont said he would suspend the formal declaration to allow for talks with Madrid, disappointing the more hardline supporters of independence.

His closely scrutinised speech followed the illegal referendum held on October 1. Spain’s constitutional court had judged that the vote broke Spanish law. The plebiscite saw ballot boxes hidden from the authorities and rubber bullets fired at Catalans by police.