Spanish government refuses decision by sacked Catalonia leader to rule remotely

The Spanish government has rejected plans by sacked Catalonia leader Carles Puigdemont to rule remotely from his self-imposed exile in Brussels after he suggested that he could be re-elected as the region’s president.

“I am a member of parliament who is perfectly eligible as president,” Puigdemont told Catalunya Radio. “These days many big projects are handled with the use of new technologies.”

Referring to the charges against him, he added: “You can’t rule from prison.”

But the Spanish government said he could not rule from Brussels either. “He won’t be president (of Catalonia),” Inigo Mendez de Vigo, who is government spokesman and Minister of Education, Culture and Sport, told Reuters.

Read also: Self-exiled Catalonia leader calls for new talks with Spain

His comments are coming a month after his arrest warrant and that of five other members of the Catalonia government was withdrawn by a court in Spain.

After taking the decision, the Spanish court also noted that the withdrawal of the arrest warrant also prevented more than one European jurisdiction overseeing the case.

The Catlonia leader and five of his ex-ministers all traveled to Belgium following a unilateral declaration of independence in the Catalan parliament on Oct. 27, considered illegal by Spanish courts.

 

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