Carles Puigdemont, Catalan regional premier. Albert Garcia / EL PAÍS

The Catalan premier, Carles Puigdemont, has failed to clear up whether or not he declared independence at a plenary session of the regional parliament last Tuesday.

Following a deliberately ambiguous statement that declared secession, then immediately placed it on hold, the central government had formally asked the Catalan leader to clarify his position within the space of five days, or face a partial suspension of home rule through the use of an obscure constitutional provision known as Article 155.

Puigdemont insists that he is offering Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy “a sincere dialogue”

The deadline ended Monday morning. But in a letter to Madrid whose contents have been revealed by the Catalan radio stations Catalunya Ràdio and RAC1, Puigdemont fails to answer the question clearly.

Instead, he attaches several documents such as a copy of the breakaway Referendum Law that his minority government rammed through the regional parliament with help from its far-left ally CUP, bypassing ordinary parliamentary procedure and causing the entire opposition to walk out in protest.

The letter also includes a report about the National Police and Civil Guard’s charges against citizens who went out to vote in the illegal referendum of October 1.

In the text of the letter, Puigdemont reiterates that he has placed the unilateral declaration of independence on hold in order to open up a “two-month process” to try to reach a deal with the central executive.

The leader of the Junts pel Si (Together for Yes) coalition, which has 62 deputies in the 135-seat parliament, wrote that “repression” against Catalan citizens should end – alluding to the riot police’s actions on October 1 – and so should “repression” against the Catalan government over the fact that the central government has already taken control of the region’s public accounts.

The Spanish government says it will not sit down with Puigdemont until he stops acting outside the bounds of the Constitution

Puigdemont insists that he is offering Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy “a sincere dialogue” and asks for a meeting to try to hammer out a preliminary deal regarding the region’s secession from Spain.

But the Popular Party (PP) administration’s position throughout the crisis has been to underscore that the Spanish government will not sit down with Puigdemont until he stops acting outside the bounds of the Constitution, which has no provisions for unilateral secession or regional referendums.

Last week, PM Rajoy and the main opposition leader, Pedro Sánchez, agreed that constitutional reform could be addressed to find a better fit for Catalonia within Spain – so long as Puigdemont drops his unilateral secession first.