Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Spain’s most high-profile political exile has returned to Catalonia despite an outstanding arrest warrant against him in a move that could threaten the stability of the country’s Socialist-led government.
Carles Puigdemont appeared in Barcelona on Thursday after spending nearly seven years in Belgium and France as a fugitive from Spanish justice having led Catalonia’s failed independence bid in 2017.
Puigdemont, who was the regional leader at the time of the illegal referendum, is accused of misusing public funds. He addressed a fired up crowd of supporters, saying he planned to attend a vote on a new Catalan president in the regional parliament later in the day.
Catalan regional police have surrounded the parliament building since Wednesday in anticipation of his return and legal experts say they are obliged to execute the arrest warrant.
“It has been seven years since they persecuted us for wanting to listen to the voice of the people of Catalonia,” Puigdemont, 61, said. “Despite the fact they wanted to do us harm, despite the fact they have shown their face as repressers, today I came here to remind you that we are still here.”
The return of Puigdemont, a man seen by many as a symbol of the long-running separatist struggle against the Spanish state, is set to roil national politics and re-energise parts of the Catalan independence movement loyal to him.
If he is arrested the stability of the government will be cast into doubt as Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez needs the votes of Puigdemont’s party to reach a parliamentary majority in Madrid.
Sánchez had struck an amnesty deal with Catalan leaders in return for their votes, but the Supreme Court earlier this year said the amnesty would not apply to the charge of misuse of funds against Puigdemont even though it eliminated another charge of disobedience.
That leaves Sánchez open to accusations that he has not fulfilled his side of the bargain.
If Puigdemont’s party, Junts per Catalunya, boycotts any Sánchez initiatives, the prime minister will end up hobbled in parliament and unable to pass any legislation.
The Catalan leader’s arrest could trigger a “radicalisation within Junts”, said Joan Botella, emeritus professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. There had been a growing “wave of demands” for moderation inside the separatist party, but his arrest was likely to embolden hardliners, Botella said.
Puigdemont fled the country in October 2017, crossing the border into France crouched down on the back seat of a Škoda. A few days later Spanish authorities issued an arrest warrant for him.
Puigdemont said on Wednesday that he must return to Spain to “confront” the judges. “We cannot remain silent in the face of the attitude of rebellion in which some judges of the Supreme Court have indulged,” he said in a video posted on X.
Read the full article here
