POLITICAL leaders in Catalonia intend mounting a legal challenge aimed at preventing the Spanish government removing them from office and taking over the running of the wealthy north-eastern state to stop its push for independence.

Catalan government spokesman Jordi Turull said appeals will be lodged in Spain’s constitutional and supreme courts against Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s decision to sack the administration and curtail parliament’s powers. And, if the case fails to succeed in Spanish courts, he said the Catalans would pursue it in the international legal arena.

Spain’s Senate is expected to approve Rajoy’s plans on Friday, triggering unprecedented constitutional powers to act against Catalan leaders, whom he accuses of violating the law and court orders by holding a secession referendum and preparing to declare independence.

“We are going to respond in a very solid way,” Turull said at the end of the regional government’s weekly cabinet meeting. “We will exhaust all internal ways in order to turn to the international justice if needed.”

There has been speculation in recent days that Catalan President Carles Puigdemont may call an early regional election to avoid the Madrid government’s intervention. But government sources have repeatedly told The National such a move would be unlikely, even if it would be welcomed by the pro-independence lobby.

The move came as reports emerged that the Senate had made a final offer to Puigdemont to appear face-to-face with Rajoy before Article 155 of the Constitution – the nuclear option – is definitively enacted.

Pedro Sanz, vice-president of the chamber, said that if the Catalan president went to the senate he would face a debate with the Spanish government, “not a single speech”.

Puigdemont could attend the Senate commission which meets tomorrow, or the full meeting of the Senate on Friday, where Rajoy is expected to appear. The chamber’s president, Pío García-Escudero, on Monday invited Puigdemont to the Senate to detail his case against the application of Article 155. Puigdemont immediately responded in favour. The Catalan executive has already formulated its arguments against the suspension of its autonomy which will have to be argued before the specially created Senate commission tomorrow. There are suggestions that Spain’s deputy prime minister, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, will attend the commission.

The Catalan government has not confirmed if Puigdemont will appear, but both his PDeCAT (Catalan European Democratic Party) and coalition partners ERC (Catalan Republican Left) say they will accept whatever decision he makes.

Puigdemont has until 10am tomorrow to inform the Senate if he will attend in person, or send a representative.

In other developments, the president of Volkswagen’s Seat division has written to workers to say the option of moving its headquarters out of Catalonia would only make sense if the company found itself without “legal protection”.

Catalonia’s delegate to France said in an interview on Monday that King Felipe had called Volkswagen personally, urging them to move out of the state.

Matías Carnero, chair of the committee of Seat’s plant in Martorell, north-west of Barcelona, told Basque broadcaster Radio Television Vasca (RTV) that the company had been under “political and monarchical pressure” to transfer their registered office to Madrid.

The firm has so far maintained a neutral position.

In his letter to the company’s 14,500 workers, Seat president Luca de Meo, noted the current political situation as one of the main concerns of management and staff.

But he said his priority was to protect the interests of workers and their families, investors, suppliers and clients”.

De Meo said that it had not been necessary to move headquarters “because the company has been able to develop operational activity normally”, adding that a change “would make sense” only if it was necessary to seek legal protection in the eventuality that “it did not exist in the territory where we are located”.

Seat, he said, was “strongly rooted in Barcelona, Catalonia and Spain”, and was one of the country’s leading companies, contributing almost one per cent of GDP, an investment of almost €3 billion (£2.6bn) in the last five years and important export activity.

The company remained “absolutely committed” to its production activities and was aware of its economic and social importance in Catalonia, and Spain.

De Meo added: “It is not the first time we have to face uncertain situations. We have always managed to overcome them thanks to the commitment of all the people that are part of Seat.

“This time will not be different.”