Spain seeks European arrest warrant for Puigdemont
THE speaker of the Catalan parliament yesterday proposed the region’s ousted leader Carles Puigdemont as president of Catalonia, as Spanish prosecutors sought a European warrant for his arrest.
Roger Torrent said Puigdemont’s candidacy to once again head Catalonia’s regional government is “absolutely legitimate”, even though the secessionist leader faces criminal proceedings over his role in Catalonia’s independence drive.
In a major blow to the central government in Madrid, separatist parties once again won an absolute majority in the Catalan regional parliament in a snap election in December.
Puigdemont wants to be invested from Belgium, where he fled in late October after the Catalan parliament voted to declare independence. He now faces arrest if he returns to Catalonia over his role in the independence drive.
The Madrid government has ruled out his being allowed to rule from outside the country and even his separatist allies – the leftwing ERC party of Puigdemont’s former deputy Oriol Junqueras – are cool in private to his bid to rule from abroad.
Spanish prosecutors yesterday sought a European arrest warrant for Puigdemont as he arrived in Copenhagen in his first trip outside of Belgium since he fled to the country.
The prosecution service asked Supreme Court Judge Pablo Llarena to reissue an arrest warrant for the secessionist leader, sacked by Madrid after the Catalan parliament declared independence, and urged Denmark to hand him over, a source said.
Llarena had dropped a European arrest warrant for Puigdemont and four of his deputies who fled to Belgium in early December, saying it would complicate the probe into the region’s leaders – but warned they would be arrested if they return.
Puigdemont and the rest of his ousted government have been charged with rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds over their separatist push.
On Twitter, Puigdemont confirmed his arrival in the Danish capital, where he is due to take part in a debate at the University of Copenhagen, defying a threat by Madrid to issue a warrant for his arrest if he leaves Belgium.
The parliamentary vote to choose a new Catalan leader is to take place by the end of January. The Catalan parliament’s legal experts have said any contender has to be physically present, but Puigdemont insists he has the legitimate mandate of the people to rule.