‘Not unrealistic’ for Catalan leader to get asylum in Belgium — minister

BRUSSELS: Granting Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont political asylum in Belgium would be ‘not unrealistic’ if he asks for it, the Belgian migration minister said, underlining his country’s position as a contrarian voice in the Spanish standoff.

The Madrid government sacked the Catalan leader and dismissed the region’s parliament on Friday, hours after it declared itself an independent nation.

Spain’s constitutional court has also started a review of Catalonia’s independence vote for prosecutors to decide if it constituted rebellion.

While there was no indication Puigdemont was hoping to come to Belgium, the country is one of few members of the European Union where EU citizens can ask for political asylum.

“It is not unrealistic if you look at the situation,” Belgium’s migration minister, Theo Francken, told Belgian broadcaster VTM. — AFP