Spain blocks move by ex-Catalonia leaders to return ex-leader Puigdemont

The Spanish government has moved to block on-going efforts by pro-independence politicians in Catalonia from voting in ex-leader Carles Puigdemont (now in Germany) as a new regional head.

Reports say Spanish authorities blocked the move after sensing a looming deadline on Catalonia to form a government and avoid fresh elections.

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Madrid said it had appealed a new Catalan law that would have allowed Puigdemont to be elected at a distance while he waits in Berlin for German courts to rule on a Spanish request to extradite him.

“We are appealing (before the Constitutional Court)… against a law that aims to swear in someone who has fled from justice and is living abroad,” Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy told reporters at the lower house of parliament in Madrid.

The Constitutional Court later accepted the appeal, meaning the law will be blocked until the court makes a final decision, which could take months.

 

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