Catalan ex-leader says independence not only solution

Catalonia’s deposed president said he might consider a solution to Spain’s political crisis that did not involve the region’s secession, appearing to soften the staunchly pro-independence stance that cost him his leadership last month.

In an interview with Belgian daily Le Soir, Carles Puigdemont was asked if a non-secessionist option was on the table to resolve a crisis triggered when Spain took over control of the region after its parliament declared independence on October 27.

“I’m ready, and have always been ready, to accept the reality of another relationship with Spain... It [another solution] is still possible,” Puigdemont said.

“I have, being pro-independence all my life, worked for 30 years to have another way of Catalonia being anchored to Spain,” he added, giving no details of what form such a relationship could take.

The former Catalan leader is in self-imposed exile in Belgium after running an independence campaign that prompted authorities in Madrid to fire his cabinet, dissolve the regional parliament and call new elections for December.

Puigdemont, who had previously insisted the independence declaration should form the basis of any political negotiations with Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, is under conditional release after an international arrest warrant was served against him.

He and four other former members of the Catalan government with him in Belgium face charges of rebellion and sedition.

Rajoy has said he was open to talks with Catalan leaders on a solution to Spain’s political crisis, but would only do so within a legal framework, calling for the independence drive to be dropped as a condition.

The Spanish government has called regional elections for December 21, and Puigdemont’s PDeCAT has failed to agree on a united ticket with other secessionist party, the ERC, denting the pro-independence camp’s hopes of uniting behind the secessionist cause.