“I don’t rule out absolutely anything that is within the law ... Ideally, it shouldn’t be necessary to implement extreme solutions but for that not to happen things would have to be changed,” Said Rajoy during a newspaper interview on Saturday.

The remarks were made as Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont and officials in the regional parliament have vowed to push ahead with a plan to declare independence from Spain despite Madrid’s opposition to the vote, which manifested itself in unprecedented police violence on the day of the controversial vote last week.

“I hope that the Catalonia that makes pacts, is moderate and for many years contributed to Spain’s economic growth and improvement in welfare and wealth returns. It can’t be in the hands of extremists, the radicals and the (far-left secessionist party) CUP,” added Rajoy.