The Spanish government has given Catalan President Carles Puigdemont five days to clarify whether he actually declared the region's independence or not in his speech devoted to the highly controversial referendum. The news comes after Spanish Prime minister Mariano Rajoy said earlier on Wednesday that the cabinet of ministers asked for clarification on the issue of autonomous region's independence.

That also on Wednesday, the prime minister said that the "illegal referendum" has failed, adding that Catalan authorities lack the legitimacy to propose a unilateral declaration of independence. He underlined that the vote undermines our democracy, Spanish unity and the Statute of Catalonia.

A day before that Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont asked for the mandate to declare independence from Spain, saying millions of voters supported the idea. However, he said that the effect of the independence declaration was suspended to continue talks with Madrid.