Catalonia’s unpredictable leader surfaces in Belgium
Spain’s attorney general calls for the prosecution of Puigdemont and 19 other Catalan politicians
BARCELONA, Spain — Hours after the Spanish authorities announced that they would seek to prosecute Catalonia’s separatists for rebellion, Carles Puigdemont, the region’s dismissed leader, turned up Monday in Belgium, where he may seek asylum.
Puigdemont’s reputation for unpredictability has grown with every turn of Catalonia’s secessionist drama.
On Monday, he all but disappeared as the Madrid central government began using emergency laws to take over direct administration of Catalonia after its declaration of independence last week.
Monday was no exception. Speculation had mounted as to what he was up to over the course of the day, until a lawyer in Belgium finally ended the mystery surrounding Puigdemont’s whereabouts late Monday.
“I have been consulted by Puigdemont and he asked me to protect his interests in the future in Belgium,” said Paul Bekaert, a Flemish lawyer.
Belgium is virtually the only national government in Europe that has been even remotely sympathetic to Puigdemont’s pleas for mediation, not least perhaps because the country has faced separatist tensions of its own led by Flemish hard-liners.
Awkwardly, Brussels is also the headquarters of a European Union bureaucracy that has held the Catalan secessionists at arms’ length, for fear of upsetting Spain, one of the bloc’s largest member states, and stoking forces of fragmentation in other parts of the Continent.
On Monday, while there was no official confirmation that Puigdemont had gone to Brussels, the Belgian and Spanish news media variously suggested that he had arrived for consultations, to seek political asylum, or to even declare a Catalan “government in exile.”
The speculation kicked into high gear not long after Spain’s attorney general, José Manuel Maza, called around noon in Madrid for the prosecution of Puigdemont and 19 other Catalan politicians, stopping short of ordering their immediate arrest.
Maza said he wanted the Catalan politicians to appear “urgently” in court in Madrid. A decision would be left to Spanish judges whether to charge or jail them. The politicians could face 30 years in prison for the most serious of the potential charges, which included rebellion and sedition.
Puigdemont’s arrival presents a direct challenge to Belgium’s federalist prime minister, Charles Michel, who as the leader of a delicate government coalition, will have to keep separatists in his own government in check while trying to maintain good diplomatic relations with Spain.