Spain's High Court has called on former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont and 13 members of his sacked administration to testify on Thursday morning.
The court also said it had started processing rebellion and sedition charges against Mr Puigdemont and the other Catalan leaders.
Yesterday, Spain's state prosecutor called for rebellion and sedition charges to be brought against Catalonia's former leaders over their push for independence from Spain.
Earlier, Mr Puigdemont said he has accepted the snap election called by Spain's central government when it took control of the region to block its push for independence.
Speaking at a news conference in Brussels, Mr Puigdemont also said he was not seeking asylum in Belgium following the recommendation of the charges by Spain's state prosecutor.
He said he would return to Catalonia when given "guarantees" by the Spanish government.
Mr Puigdemont's announcement that he would accept the regional election on 21 December signalled that the Spanish government had, for now at least, gained the upper hand in the protracted struggle over Catalonia.
Resistance to the imposition of direct control on Catalonia failed to materialise yesterday.
Spain's Constitutional Court has blocked the unilateral declaration of independence made by the regional parliament on Friday - a largely symbolic move that gained no traction and led to the assembly's dismissal by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy less than an hour after it was made.
"I ask the Catalan people to prepare for a long road. Democracy will be the foundation of our victory," Mr Puigdemont said in Brussels, where he appeared after keeping a low profile over the weekend.
Key events in the Catalan independence crisis
The Spanish government has said Mr Puigdemont was welcome to take his chances and stand in the election, called by Mr Rajoy as a way to resolve the stand-off.
Mr Rajoy, who has taken an uncompromising stance throughout the battle of wills over Catalonia, is gambling on anti-independence parties taking power in the regional parliament and putting the brakes on the independence drive.
Mr Puigdemont will hope a strong showing for the independence camp will reboot the secessionists after a tumultuous several weeks.
The political crisis, Spain's gravest since the return of democracy in the late 1970s, was triggered by an unofficial independence referendum held in Catalonia on 1 October.
Though it was declared illegal by Spanish courts and less than half Catalonia's eligible voters took part, the pro-secessionist regional government said the vote gave it a mandate for independence.
Mr Puigdemont, Vice President Oriol Junqueras and other Catalan leaders had said previously they would not accept their dismissal.
However their respective parties, PdeCat and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, said yesterday they would take part in the election, a tacit acceptance of direct rule from Madrid.
