FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
Spain's high-profile political exile has returned to Catalonia despite an arrest warrant still active against him, 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 after leading Catalonia's failed independence bid in 2017. Puigdemont, who was regional leader at the time of the illegal referendum, is accused of misuse of public funds.
He addressed a fired-up crowd of supporters, saying he planned to take part in a vote for a new Catalan president in the regional parliament later in the day. Catalan regional police have surrounded the parliament building since Wednesday awaiting his return, and legal experts say they are bound to execute the arrest warrant.
" It has been seven years since we were persecuted because we wanted to hear the voice of the people of Catalonia. Despite the fact that they wanted to harm us, despite the fact that they have shown their face as oppressors, today I came here to remind you that we are still here ," said Puigdemont, 61.
The return of Puigdemont, a man seen by many as a symbol of the long separatist fight against the Spanish state, will roil national politics and reinvigorate parts of the Catalan independence movement.
If he is arrested, the stability of the government will be in doubt as Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez needs the votes of Puigdemont's party to achieve a parliamentary majority in Madrid. Sánchez had reached an amnesty deal with Catalan leaders in exchange for their votes, but the Supreme Court earlier this year said the amnesty would not apply to the embezzlement charge against Puigdemont even as it dropped another insubordination charge.
That leaves Sanchez open to accusations that he hasn't lived up to his end of the bargain. If Puigdemont's party, Junts per Catalunya, boycotts any of Sanchez's initiatives, the prime minister will end up stymied in parliament and unable to pass any legislation.
Puigdemont left the country in October 2017, crossing the border into France sitting in the back seat of a Škoda. A few days later the Spanish authorities issued an arrest warrant for him.
Puigdemont said on Wednesday that he must return to Spain to "face" the judges.
" We cannot remain silent in the face of the attitude of rebellion in which some judges of the Supreme Court have plunged ," he said in a video posted on X./ Financial Times
Lini një Përgjigje