On Thursday, August 8, a debate is scheduled in the Catalan parliament on the next new government, after which, according to plans, the 135-member legislature will vote on the presidency of Salvador Illa, the unionist who won the elections and is opposing Catalan independence (in Catalonia, the head of government is called the president).
At the same time, an unexpected figure could scupper the plans of Illa and his party, the Social Democratic Party (PSC) (Partit deis Socialistes de Catalunya), which also governs Spain.
Because after seven years of exile, the leader of the independence movement, Carles Puigdemont, who is currently imprisoned, returns to Catalonia to prevent the formation of a government.
Pudgemont Wednesday morning Advertise He said in a video clip on his social media page that he was on his way to Barcelona to participate as an elected representative in the session that begins at 9 a.m. on Thursday, and his goal is to prevent the formation of what he believes is a pro-Spanish unity government.
In a three-page letter last weekend, It is to explainAnd that he must return to his country because of the “Spanish repression”, and that he does not fear arrest, because he has already been detained for a short period in Germany and Italy.
The former Catalan president also asked supporters of his party, the pro-independence centre-right party, to go to the Ciutadella Park, which houses the Catalan parliament, to try to prevent Illa's government from voting, and hopefully arrest him.
Carles Puigdemont Don Quixote is Bellanata
Junta leader Puigdemont has been living in Belgium and France since the 2017 independence referendum – a rebellion according to Madrid, and a referendum that was violently suppressed according to Catalan nationalists – to avoid arrest in Spain, because the referendum was also a rebellion, insurrection and embezzlement. There is an arrest warrant for him, and the Supreme Court in Madrid has been trying to obtain his extradition since 2017, but apart from brief arrests in Germany and Italy, this has not been possible.
Although the Madrid legislature – thanks to negotiators from Puigdemont’s party and the other Catalan pro-independence party, the left-wing ERC (Esquarre Republica) – passed an amnesty law in relation to the events of 2017 in parliament at the end of May, meaning that in theory no one involved in the independence referendum will be arrested,
Puigdemont remains in detention as several people challenge the amnesty law in court.
For this reason, the former Catalan president would certainly be arrested by the Spanish or Catalan police on sight. Thus, even if he tried to disrupt the parliamentary debate and the vote of Illa, he would probably not even be able to enter Parliament, since he would still have to travel 130 kilometers from the Franco-Spanish border to more than three hundred-year-old Catalan Parliament building. In addition, due to his arrival, the Catalan police have tightened security systems, and representatives can only access one entrance, while secret tunnels are also guarded.
With this, he will probably only be able to temporarily prevent his former allies, the pro-independence Reform and Reform Party, from voting for the unionist Illa as president, since the Reform and Reform Council reached an agreement on Monday with the Peace and Security Council and the New Left party, the Sumar movement wing, which also participates in the federal government in Spain, to vote for Illa's government in exchange for the use of the Catalan language and various economic programs.
the Alconac It is likely that the Madrid government led by Pedro Sánchez was also involved, as Pere Aragonés of the European Council was prepared to vote for Illa with his representatives, among other things, on the condition that 100 percent of the taxes collected in Catalonia remain in the autonomous community, i.e. do not go to the coffers of the Madrid state.
Meanwhile, it may be enough for Puigdemont to annoy one pro-independence MP with his presence and arrest, since the three parties have a total of 68 seats, meaning they have a majority in the Catalan parliament by just one hair.
He is supposed to be playing on exposing his former allies by arresting him and the crowd that called him to parliament, with whom he ruled jointly between 2018 and 2022, until they disagreed over independence and the “Gent” left the government led by Pere Aragonés.
Will Carles Puigdemont's plan succeed and avoid his arrest?
Illa currently has enough support behind him — which is why parliament is in session — that if Puigdemont is arrested, it would likely delay the formation of a government, not stop it. Following his possible arrest, Josep Rul, the speaker of the lower house, promised to close the session, as he did in an interview this week. WireIn such a case he would not consider it appropriate for Parliament to continue its work on that day.
In this interview, Roll said, referring to the Catalan constitution and the parliament's internal rules, that Puigdemont could under no circumstances be arrested if he entered the building.
As the constitution and house rules prohibit anyone from being detained in the building, Ruhl promised that if Puigdemont succeeded in entering parliament, he would protect his party leader from being arrested in his office.
Meanwhile, if Puigdemont can upset a single representative of the European Reform Council with his offer – whether he attends the meeting or not – he could easily win new parliamentary elections.
Since the Catalan government must be formed by August 26 at the latest, if that does not happen, elections will be held again in the autonomous region after May.
At the same time, both Illa and Aragon want to avoid this – the latter has previously stated that they are not interested in another electoral campaign, moreover, since the start of negotiations with the Peace and Security Council, support for the Equity and Reconciliation Commission has declined, which means that they will receive fewer mandates than they did in May.
In addition to forming an Illa government, Puigdemont's other supposed goal is to revive the Catalan independence movement, since since 2017 the number of those wishing to secede from Spain has been steadily decreasing.
Latest poll according to Only 40% of Catalans want an independent republic, while 53% want to remain part of the Kingdom of Spain – and this can be seen in opinion polls as well as in support for pro-independence parties, with Junts performing worse in both the May parliamentary elections and the June European Parliament elections as well as the European Council elections in 2021 or 2019.
It is therefore quite doubtful whether Catalans, who are meanwhile mostly concerned about the economic situation and overtourism, will once again stand behind Puigdemont and the independence movement, if the former Catalan president is arrested.
(Cover photo: Carles Puigdemont in France on July 27, 2024. Photo: Albert Loeb/Getty Images)
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