Barcelona Mayor Calls on EU to Mediate Catalan Referendum

Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau has called on the European Union to mediate the holding of a referendum on Catalonia's independence in an op-ed published in the British newspaper The Guardian, reports the Patria agency.

- My obligation as mayor is to call on the European Commission to open a space for mediation between the Spanish and Catalan governments in order to find an agreed and democratic solution. Barcelona does not want a conflict that would have unpredictable consequences – Colau wrote.

Colau is against independence, but has condemned the behavior of the "uncompromising government" of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in Madrid, saying it has worsened the situation with the Catalan regional government.

- Legal actions against Catalan officials will only increase social tensions and block any possibility of finding a way out of the conflict – the Mayor of Barcelona wrote.

The Spanish government announced on Tuesday that the regional police will take control of any polling stations ahead of the independence referendum in Catalonia, scheduled for October 1, reports Reuters.

Spain's chief state prosecutor Jose Manuel Masa has refused to rule out the possibility of arresting Catalan President Carles Puigdemont for his insistence on holding a referendum on the independence of that Spanish province.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy recently called on Catalan leaders to admit that they cannot hold a referendum on Catalonia's independence.

The Spanish government has declared the announced referendum on Catalonia's independence unconstitutional.