SPAIN'S CATALAN SPOOL

By: Naila

The president of the Catalan regional government, Carles Puigdemont 

MADRID : Spain appealed to Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont to ''act sensibly''  on Wednesday, just 24 hours before a government deadline for the region to renounce a bid independence.

''I ask Puigdemont to act sensibly, in balanced way, to put the ''interest of all citizens first,'' Prime Minister Mariano Rajoysaid in a parliament .

Madrid has threatened Catalonia, which accounts for a fifth of Spain's economy, with direct rule if Puigdemont does not retract an ambiguous declaration of independence he made last week.

The row has rattled financial markets and sent companies scurrying to shift their legal bases in a flight to safer ground.

SEVEN HUNDRED countries left Catalonia between Oct 2  -the day after the referendum on  independence  which Spain branded illegal and Oct 16, according to Spain's companies registry and Thursday's deadline is

Puigdemont's last chance to abandon an independence declaration which he made and then immediately suspended on Oct.10.

Madrid has ridiculed the ambiguity of the proclamation, which remained unclear after a previous deadline expired on Monday.