The Spanish justice orders the arrest of the Catalan leader | The former regional president of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, could define the elections

2023-07-25 00:38:44

The vice president of the Catalan independence party JxCat — led by the former regional president of Catalonia Carles Puigdemont — Josep Rius, reaffirmed this Monday that his formation will only negotiate an eventual investiture of the socialist leader, Pedro Sánchez, on the basis of the “self-determination and amnesty” of its leaders and challenged the Socialist Party to make a proposal to “unblock the conflict between Catalonia and Spain.”

Puigdemont has been a fugitive from Spanish justice in Brussels since October 2017, after the secessionist attempt in that Spanish autonomous community. But he now has the key to governance in Spain if he decides to give his support, or abstains. This would make it possible to achieve an Executive made up of the left bloc.

Sánchez needs those votes

With the 122 deputies obtained by the Socialists in the elections this Sunday, JxCat could make Sánchez revalidate his position at the head of the Spanish Government. After the meeting of the JxCat leadership to assess the results of the elections, Rius asked himself “what is Sánchez willing to do” to “convince” his party and that his seven deputies in the Spanish Congress give him their support in a hypothetical investiture. “The ball is in his court,” warned Rius, who accused Sánchez of “avoiding” this responsibility until now, since in recent years there has not been “not a single proposal from the Socialists to finish unblocking this conflict.”

“We will be very attentive to what Mr. Pedro Sánchez says when he goes out to express what his proposal is to convince the rest of the political formations to give eventual support to his investiture,” said the vice president of JxCat, who warned that “you cannot govern against Catalonia.”

Open end

Although the PSOE leader has rejected the demands for amnesty and self-determination on previous occasions, Rius pointed out that Sánchez “has said many things before and during the electoral campaigns and has done many different things afterwards.” The spokesman for JxCat also addressed the rest of the pro-independence formations, to which he extended his hand to “remake unity” and form a “common space to weave the pro-independence strategy.”

Despite the fact that the Catalan secessionist parties may be key in the formation of a socialist government, all these formations suffered a drop in their representativeness in these elections. Asked if the demand for amnesty could translate into an early pardon for Puigdemont, Rius ruled it out.

A justice with curious timing

The Spanish Prosecutor’s Office requested this Monday Judge Pablo Llarena, instructor of the case that is being followed in Spain against the former regional president of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, to order his search and capture and imprisonment again after the withdrawal of his immunity by European justice.

This request comes one day after the electoral map of July 23 has given JxCat the key to a possible progressive coalition government between PSOE and Sumar, so the message from the Prosecutor’s Office does not contribute to bringing positions closer. This has been revealed by Carles Puigdemont himself, who has assessed the Prosecutor’s decision through his personal Twitter account: “One day you are decisive in forming a Spanish government, the next day Spain orders your arrest.”

The head of the JxCat list, Míriam Nogueras, aware of the role that her party would play in the formation of the Government, sent a clear message to Pedro Sánchez after the elections and warned him that his party would not make him president “for nothing”.

The accusations

The Spanish Public Ministry also requested the search and arrest of the former Catalan minister Antoni Comín, for whom the Court of Justice of the EU handed down the same sentence. The Prosecutor’s Office requests the magistrate to act against Puigdemont and Comín for a crime of embezzlement, which would entail a prison sentence of between six and twelve years due to the high amount of funds that they allegedly diverted. Specifically, it requests that an international search and arrest warrant and a European arrest and surrender warrant be issued.

Puigdemont and Comín have been fugitives from the Spanish Justice in Brussels since October 30, 2017, the same day that the judicial offensive began in Spain due to the secessionist attempt in Catalonia on the 7th of that same month. The Catalan independence leader was elected deputy in the European elections of May 26, 2019 by the Lliures per Europa list, but he was not recognized as such until months later, having not collected his minutes and promised or sworn to the Spanish Constitution.

However, on January 6, 2020, the European Parliament recognized the pro-independence politician as an MEP, after on December 19 the Court of Justice of the European Union established that this condition is acquired from the proclamation of the results of the European elections.

After several judicial processes, finally, on July 5, the European court decided to withdraw the immunity as members of the European Parliament from him, Comín and the former counselor Clara Ponsatí, arrested this Monday in Barcelona. Although Puigdemont and Comín can still appeal that sentence, the Spanish Prosecutor’s Office highlights that this appeal does not have suspensive effects on the previous sentence.