Latest: Spain brands Catalonia's response as inadequate and imposes Thursday deadline
: Spain's deputy prime minister has said that Catalonia's leader did not give an adequate response in his letter about the region's independence and has until Thursday to comply with the country's laws.
Carles Puigdemont's letter, issued two hours before a Monday deadline, did not clarify whether he in fact declared Catalonia's independence from Spain.
He called for talks with Spain's government.
Spain's central government wanted a simple "yes" or "no" answer from Mr Puigdemont, something that Spanish deputy prime minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said that he did not provide.
Ms Saenz de Santamaria said in an address to reporters that "it wasn't very difficult to say yes or no.
"That was the question that was asked and the response shouldn't be complicated."
She said he has until Thursday morning to fall in line, or faces the possibility of Spain activating Article 155 of the Constitution which would allow the central government to take over parts of Catalonia's self-governance.
She said Mr Puigdemont's call for dialogue is "not credible" and that Spain's national parliament is the place to talk.
Catalonia's leader has called for dialogue with Spain and a meeting with the country's prime minister, complying with a Monday deadline to respond to a request from the central government to state explicitly whether he had declared independence.
But Carles Puigdemont's letter, released about two hours before the deadline was set to expire, did not clarify whether he indeed had proclaimed that Catalonia had broken away from Spain.
The central government had explicitly asked him to respond with a simple "yes" or "no" to that question.
Instead, Mr Puigdemont replied with a four-page letter seeking two months of negotiations and mediation.
"The priority of my government is to intensively seek a path to dialogue," Mr Puigdemont said in his letter.
"We want to talk ... Our proposal for dialogue is sincere and honest."
Spain has repeatedly said that it is not willing to sit down with Mr Puigdemont if calls for independence are on the table, or accept any form of international mediation.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's government has threatened to activate Article 155 of Spain's constitution, which could see Madrid take temporary control of some parts of Catalonia's self-government.
Spanish justice minister Rafael Catala said that Mr Puigdemont's letter did not answer the question posed by the government.
Spain's deputy prime minister is expected to respond to Mr Puigdemont's letter in more detail at a forthcoming news conference.
Mr Puigdemont held a banned independence referendum on October 1, and made an ambiguous declaration of independence last week.
He then immediately suspended the declaration to allow time for talks and mediation.
In Monday's letter, Mr Puigdemont also called on Spanish authorities to halt "all repression" in Catalonia, referring to a police crackdown during the referendum that left hundreds injured.
He said that the Spanish government should also end its sedition case against two senior Catalan regional police force officers and the leaders of two pro-independence associations.
All four were attending a hearing on Monday at Spain's National Court in Madrid.
The sedition case is investigating the roles of the four in September 20-21 demonstrations in Barcelona as Spanish police arrested several Catalan officials and raided offices in a crackdown on referendum preparations.
