Solution other than independence is possible, says Catalan leader

THE deposed Catalonian president has said that “a solution other than independence is possible”, in an apparent climbdown from his hard line on separatism for the region.

Carles Puigdemont, who was ousted after leading an illegal independence referendum last month, told Belgian newspaper Le Soir he is “prepared to accept the reality of another kind of relationship with Spain”, hinting at a possible federal state structure.

He said he would never give up on the possibility of a “deal” with Spain on a new status or the possibility of holding a legal referendum on independence for Catalonia. Mr Puigdemont fled to Brussels to avoid the possibility of being jailed, after all members of the regional administration were accused of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds.

Mr Puigdemont’s comments come days after Carme Forcadell, the speaker of the Catalan parliament, told a judge investigating her and five other colleagues for rebellion that the declaration of independence had been merely “symbolic”.

Clara Ponsatí, one of the four regional ministers who fled to Belgium along with Mr Puigdemont, has also said that her government “was not sufficiently prepared to apply independence”. The nature of Mr Puigdemont’s participation in the election remains unclear as he awaits a court hearing in Brussels on Spain’s request to have him extradited.

Speaking in Barcelona on Sunday in his first visit to Catalonia since he imposed direct rule, Mariano Rajoy, Spain’s prime minister, urged Catalans to “vote massively” against separatist parties in the snap election on Dec 21. Mr Puigdemont told Le Soir he does “not wish to be a candidate for a political party”, but the idea of a unity list of Catalan parties has lost strength as two major pro-independence forces, the Catalan Republican Left and the anticapitalist CUP, announced they would run separately.