The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
I wish I’d stayed in Fife – Ponsati
Dundee: Extradition-threatened Catalan politician given warm Caird Hall welcome
The St Andrews professor battling extradition to Spain admits she has some regrets about leaving Fife to join the Catalan Government’s independence push.
Clara Ponsati, the exiled minister, was a guest on Alex Salmond’s live show in Dundee last night, in which the Caird Hall crowd applauded a call from a member of the audience to boycott Spanish products.
Some of the audience waved Catalonia flags in support of Salmond’s extradition-threatened guest.
One person stood up to reveal he and his wife are no longer buying Spanish goods and avoiding visiting the country in protest against the actions of the Spanish Government, which drew applause from most of the audience.
Prof Ponsati was head of economics at the university when she became the region’s education minister, just months before the referendum.
The academic said she knew there would be “tempestuous times ahead” but felt a “duty to accept” the call to join the Catalan cabinet last summer.
Mr Salmond asked her: “You never feel now that you might have been better off staying in the ivory towers of St Andrews, which is quite a nice place to be?”
She replied: “Sometimes, I think so.” Thanking Scots for their support, she said: “I have received so much support and so much affection. Honestly I never thought I was going to be the object of so much love.”
Prof Ponsati, who is at the university but not teaching, faces charges of violent rebellion and misappropriation of public funds relating to the wildcat referendum in October.
The full extradition hearing is due to start on July 30 and last two weeks.
Nearly £250,000 has been raised so far for Prof Ponsati’s legal battle.
Aamer Anwar, her lawyer, told the Alex Salmond Unleashed show that up to £500,000 is needed to give the exeducation minister the best chances of seeing off the extradition bid.
On the Spanish Government’s approach, Prof Ponsati said: “They are really dismantling whatever was there of democracy, but that is self-defeating.
“My hopes are very high (for independence)...as long as we keep on and we don’t surrender and we keep our high hopes, and certainly the Catalan people are still there and they have not been defeated, we will get our Catalan republic.”
Salmond, who lost his Gordon seat in last year’s general election, sang and performed skits during the show, which also had comedian Elaine C Smith as a guest.
The former MP paid tribute to Chris Paterson, the 21-year-old guitarist from Perthshire who died from a suspected heart attack this month.
His band The Carloways, who have been touring with Mr Salmond’s show, played in memory of the former Perth High School pupil.