BERLIN: Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said in a newspaper interview that Spain would not be divided, a week after Catalonia held a referendum that authorities there say showed voters overwhelmingly support independence.

Asked if there was a risk that Spain would be divided, Rajoy said in an interview published in Die Welt on Monday: “Absolutely not. Spain will not be divided and national unity will be preserved. We’ll do everything that legislation allows to ensure that.”

Catalonia, which has its own language and culture and is led by a pro-independence regional government, held the October 1 referendum over secession in defiance of Spain’s constitutional court which had declared the vote illegal.