From Brussels, deposed Catalonian leader wants fair trial, not asylum
BRUSSELS — The deposed leader of Catalonia said Tuesday that he had traveled to Brussels to guarantee a fair trial for himself and other separatists who declared independence from Spain last week, but that they were not seeking asylum.
Instead, the former leader, Carles Puigdemont, said he had left Catalonia as Madrid took over administration of his region to put Spain’s territorial conflict “in the institutional heart of Europe.”
“We are here because Brussels is the capital of Europe, it is not a question of Belgian politics,” Puigdemont said in his first public remarks since the Spanish authorities called Monday for him and 19 other separatists to be prosecuted for rebellion.
“This is a European issue,” Puigdemont told a news conference, “and I want Europe to react.”
Puigdemont’s wishes are unlikely to be granted. Brussels is the headquarters of the European Union, but the bloc is a group of sovereign states in a time of increased nationalism on the continent.
Some European Union leaders have urged dialogue, but all have fully supported Spanish sovereignty and the Spanish government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and shown no sympathy for Catalan secession.
On Friday, Jean-Claude Juncker, the most pro-European of European leaders, said bluntly that the European Union “doesn’t need any more cracks, more splits.”
Juncker, the president of the European Commission and himself from tiny Luxembourg, said that the bloc should not intervene in “an internal debate for Spain, but I wouldn’t want the European Union to consist of 95 member states in the future.”
After Catalan separatists declared independence Friday, Rajoy dismissed Puigdemont and his Cabinet and dissolved the Catalan Parliament, calling for regional elections Dec. 21.
In Brussels, Puigdemont welcomed the chance for separatists to win the December elections. He said he would “accept the results” and called on Madrid to make “a clear commitment” to do the same.
Puigdemont emphasized that he was not escaping Spanish justice, but he said he wanted guarantees of a fair trial and would work for now from Brussels, in “freedom and security.”
After reading the charges proposed by the Spanish attorney general, Puigdemont said he felt Catalan politicians would not be treated fairly by the Spanish judiciary.
The possible charges, he argued, amounted to “a persecution” of people and their ideas rather than specific crimes. “More than a desire for justice, it is a desire for vengeance,” he said.