Puigdemont vows to form new Catalan government
OUSTED Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont on Monday vowed to form a government despite “threats” from the central government in Madrid, as a Spanish judge refused to re-issue a European warrant for his arrest.
“We will not surrender to authoritarianism despite Madrid’s threats,” he said during a debate on Catalonia at the University of Copenhagen.“Soon we will form a new government . . . it’s time to end their oppression and find a political solution for Catalonia.”
Puigdemont’s comments came hours after the speaker of the Catalan parliament proposed him as president of Cata- lonia following a snap election in December in which separatist parties once again won an absolute majority, in a major blow to the government in Madrid.
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 in Spain. The parliamentary vote to choose a new Catalan leader is now due to take place by the end of January.
Puigdemont wants to be sworn in from Belgium, where he went late in October to avoid arrest after the Catalan parliament declared unilateral independence.
Madrid sacked Puigdemont and his entire government, and it dissolved the parliament following the declaration.
Charged with rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds, Puigdemont now faces arrest if he returns to Spain over his role in the independence drive.
The government in Madrid 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 on Monday sought to have a European arrest warrant for Puigdemont re-issued as he arrived in Copenhagen, in his first trip outside of Belgium. But Supreme Court Judge Pablo Llarena turned down the request, arguing Puig- demont had gone to Denmark “to provoke this arrest abroad” as part of a strategy to boost his arguments in favour of being allowed to be sworn in as president of Catalonia again.
Llarena had dropped a European arrest warrant for Puigdemont and four of his deputies who fled to Belgium in December, saying it would complicate the overall probe into the region’s leaders – but warned they would be arrested if they return.
Puigdemont’s visit to Denmark could help him avoid problems in Belgium, where European citizens can live without a residency permit for three months, after which they theoretically have to leave. If they return they can stay another three months.