Madrid—The Catalonia crisis has reached its peak.

On Tuesday, the Catalan Parliament signed a unilateral declaration of independence.  It came in the wake of an illegal and highly contentious referendum in which 90% of voters chose independence, but the turnout was just 43%.

Catalan President Carles Puigdemont, however, suspended the implementation of the declaration for the sake of discussions.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy responded with an ultimatum: The separatists have five days to decide if they have actually declared independence or not.  If they have, they will be given an additional three days to withdraw it.