CATALONIA’S parliament will meet on Thursday to decide its response to Spanish government moves to take direct control of the state.

President Carles Puigdemont has asked for a debate and vote.

He said Madrid’s plans were “the worst attack on the institutions and people of Catalonia since the decrees of the military dictator Francisco Franco abolishing the Generalitat [the autonomous community] of Catalonia”.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is manoeuvring to sack top officials and take over Catalan government departments and media.

Apart from stripping Puigdemont of all his powers, Madrid also aims to take control of Catalonia’s police force, the Mossos d’Esquadra, and its public broadcaster, TV3.

It is thought Rajoy could also call a snap regional election in the next six months.

The far-left CUP party in Catalonia, a key supporter of Puigdemont’s pro-independence minority administration, has warned of a campaign of “massive civil disobedience” if Madrid imposes direct rule.

Brussels has come under attack for endorsing the suspension of Catalan’s autonomy, which is pending approval by the Spanish senate on Friday, after European Commission (EC) spokesman Margaritis Schinas said Spain’s decision to enforce Article 155 was “within the constitutional order”.

“We will always respect the constitutional and legal arrangements of Spain,” he told a media briefing.

Raul Romeva, the Catalan foreign affairs minister, said the EU would lose credibility if it let Madrid impose direct rule.

He told BBC radio: “How can the European Union live with that situation if it appears? How can they be credible if they allow this to happen?

“Because what I can tell you is that the people and institutions in Catalonia would not let this ... happen.”

Slovenian MEP Ivo Vajgl said Madrid had written a shameful page in history, adding: “The attack on the values of Catalans means the dismantling of European democratic standards. The virus of non-democracy is dangerous, and we, Europe, are looking away.”

Spanish media reported that Puigdemont intends to present his arguments to a commission of the Spanish Senate tomorrow, and there have been also calls by his supporters to call a snap election.

Pro-independence students are also calling a strike in Catalan universities on Thursday to urge a declaration of independence.

The group Universities for the Republic has staged several recent protests, and said the strike was intended to urge the Catalan author-ities to proclaim a Catalan Republic and defend its institutions.

Catalonia’s delegate to France, meanwhile, has claimed King Felipe personally called Volkswagen, whose Seat plant is based there, to tell them to “leave Barcelona”.

In an interview with French TV channel CNews, Marti Anglada said: “The king in person telephoned to tell them to leave Barcelona.”

He asked his interviewer, Jean-Pierre Elkabbach: “If tomorrow a gendarme comes to tell you the questions you must ask me what will you do? That’s what will happen in Catalonia next Saturday. Someone will come to tell you Mr Elkabbach, do not ask these questions, you have to ask other questions ... what will you say then?”