Catalonia's leader hasn't clarified whether he declared independence from Spain in a letter to the central government and has renewed a call for dialogue.

Last week, Spain had set a Monday deadline for Carles Puigdemont to explicitly say whether or not he proclaimed that Catalonia was breaking away from Spain.

Puigdemont held a banned independence referendum on Oct 1 and then 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, Puigdemont didn't answer “yes” or “no” to the question “have you declared independence in Catalonia” as demanded by the Spanish government.

He called for two months of dialogue and requested that Spanish authorities halt “all repression” in Catalonia.