Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Alfonso Dastis says he is certain that elections in Catalonia on December 21 will help restore law and order there.

"We hope, and we believe in this, that after the elections Catalonia will remain the society it was: open, integrated, where no one is excluded from society on the ground of their language or way of thinking... We hope that via these elections we will be able to restore the rule of law, law and order in Catalonia," Dastis said at a joint press conference with Ukraine's Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin in Kyiv on Monday.

The elections, scheduled for December 21, were called to give all Catalonians the opportunity to have their say and cast their votes as per the Catalonian charter and Spanish constitution, Dastis said.

On October 28 the Spanish authorities published Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's order appointing his deputy Soraya Saenz de Santamaria in charge of Catalonia.

The document confirms the sacking of the regional government, most of the duties of which will be taken over by Saenz de Santamaria.

The Spanish authorities took such measures in response to the Catalonian parliament's October 27 decision to declare independence. That evening, Rajoy sacked the Catalonia's executive government, disbanded its parliament and called early parliamentary elections in the region on December 21, 2017.