Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

POLITICS

Fugitive separatist Puigdemont returns to Spain but vanishes again

Carles Puigdemont, the former leader of Catalonia who fled Spain over his role in a failed 2017 independence bid, returned to Spain on Thursday after seven years on the run despite a pending arrest warrant, but promptly disappeared again.

Published: 8 August 2024 09:21 CEST
Fugitive separatist Puigdemont returns to Spain but vanishes again
Catalonia's exiled separatist leader Carles Puigdemont arrives to deliver a speech on stage as his hardline separatist JxCAT party has scheduled a welcome ceremony, ahead of an investiture vote at the Parliament of Catalonia, in Barcelona on August 8, 2024.. (Photo by Cesar Manso / AFP)

Puigdemont shouted “Long live a free Catalonia!” as he climbed onto a stage in Barcelona to address thousands gathered near the Catalan regional parliament which is set to elect a new leader later in the day.

“I have come here to remind you that we are still here,” he said as many in the crowd waved red, yellow and blue Catalan independence flags.

After his brief address, Puigdemont appeared to head towards the nearby Catalan parliament but the assembly began an investiture vote to pick a new leader for the region without him being present.

It was not immediately clear where he was.

Police had set up road blocks in Barcelona and were searching cars to try to find Puigdemont, according to Spanish media reports.

Contacted by AFP, police declined to comment if such an operation was underway.

Nuria Pujol, a woman in her fifties who came to Barcelona from the Alt Penedes region to see Puigdemont, called him “a very noble person”.

PROFILE: Carles Puigdemont – Catalonia’s eternal separatist

“(He’s) the only one who believes in independence and has not stopped believing,” she added.

A small group of protesters gathered nearby, waving national Spanish flags and holding signs that read “Catalonia is Spain”, in a demonstration organised by far-right party Vox.

‘Problem with democracy’

Puigdemont’s dramatic return came just days after Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialists struck a deal with moderate Catalan separatist party ERC – which competes with Puigdemont’s more hardline JxCAT – to make the Socialist candidate, Salvador Illa, the next head of the Catalan regional government.

The Socialists won the most seats in a regional election in May but failed to get a majority and the support of the ERC is crucial.

If a new Catalan regional government is not formed by August 26th, fresh elections will be held in October.

Puigdemont led the regional government of Catalonia in 2017, when it pushed ahead with an independence referendum despite a court ban, followed by a short-lived declaration of independence.

He fled Spain shortly after the independence bid to avoid prosecution and has since lived in Belgium and more recently France.

While Spain’s parliament in May passed an amnesty law for those involved in the botched secession bid, the Supreme Court ruled on July 1 that the measure would not fully apply to Puigdemont.

“A country that has an amnesty law and does not apply it, has a problem with democracy,” he said in his speech.

Path to independence?

Sánchez agreed to the amnesty law in exchange for JxCAT’s crucial support in Spain’s parliament for his fragile minority government, sparking huge street protests that were organised by the right wing.

He is now facing opposition from parts of his own Socialist party as well as the right over a proposal to give Catalonia full control of the taxes collected in the region.

The measure was promised to the ERC in exchange for the party’s support for Illa in Thursday’s Catalan investiture vote.

The proposal has for decades been one of the main demands of Catalan independence parties but critics argue it would deprive the central state of a substantial source of revenue.

READ MORE: The plan for Catalonia to handle its own finances separately from Spain

It must still be approved by Spain’s national parliament.

A similar system already exists in Spain’s northern Basque Country, which also has an active independence movement.

If Illa passes Thursday’s investiture vote, he will be the first head of Catalonia’s regional government since 2010 who does not come from the separatist camp.

The former health minister has defended the tax agreement made with the ERC, saying it was “favourable for all Catalans”.

“They are agreements designed to improve our finances without harming anyone and whilst respecting the principles of (fiscal) solidarity,” he said after securing the ERC’s support.

But former Socialist deputy prime minister Alfonso Guerra has said the tax agreement opens “a path towards a federal system and the independence of Catalonia”.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

POLITICS

Spain’s environment minister tipped to become EU commissioner

Spain's ecological transition minister Teresa Ribera, who is poised to become a European Union commissioner, is a long-time environmentalist known for her negotiating skills and climate expertise.

Published: 10 September 2024 16:08 CEST
Spain's environment minister tipped to become EU commissioner

The 55-year-old is close with Spain’s Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who said she would bring a “socialist approach” to the European Commission, the executive arm of the bloc.

European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen will unveil her new team of commissioners on Tuesday, with Ribera tipped to inherit one of the major portfolios such as economic transformation, environment or competition, which is responsible for enforcing antitrust rules and policing state aid.

Ribera is expected to use the post to speed up the implementation of the EU’s Green Deal – an ambitious plan to make the bloc climate-neutral by 2050 – which has come under fire from the fossil fuel industry and the agricultural sector, as well as from political parties on the right and far right.

Ribera has argued the Green Deal can be combined with economic competitiveness.

“You have to be less ideological and (have) more pragmatism and explain how all the costs in the future will be higher,” Ribera said in a recent interview with the Financial Times.

‘Person of dialogue’

Born on May 19th, 1969, Ribera was raised in an upmarket Madrid suburb by her writer mother and her father, who is a professor of medicine, along with her four sisters.

She is married to an Argentinian lawyer, Mariano Bacigalupo, a former executive at Spanish competition authority CNMC.

A graduate of law and political science from Madrid’s Complutense University, she began her career in the 1990s at the ministry of public works before moving to Spain’s climate change bureau.

Ribera served as secretary of state for climate change under former Socialist Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, before moving to Paris in 2013, where she headed the IDDRI think tank which focuses on sustainable development.

As part of this role she participated in discussions on the 2015 Paris climate agreement and advised the United Nations on climate matters.

Sánchez then appointed her minister for the ecological transition when he came to power in 2018.

The media-savvy mother of two daughters has established herself as a pillar of Sanchez’s government who is well regarded in Brussels, although her opposition to nuclear power upsets some member states, according to a diplomatic source.

She is also fluent in English and French.

“She is a person of dialogue, who listens and knows how to be open to certain proposals,” the director of Greenpeace Spain, Eva Saldana, told AFP.

“She has a good grasp of the issues” and this has enabled “significant progress” to be made on several subjects,” Saldana added.

‘Inflexibility’

In Brussels, she played a key role in concluding a reform of the electricity market and in Spain she has promoted the development of green hydrogen, banned wolf hunting and put in place a pan to save the Mar Menor — one of Europe’s largest saltwater lagoons that is threatened by agricultural runoff.

Ribera’s measures have sometimes faced opposition, especially by farmers.

“Her decisions have been marked by an ‘anti-farmer’ bias, which raises doubts about the role she could play in Brussels,” one of Spain’s largest farmers associations, Asaja, said in a statement, criticising her “inflexibility”.

Ribera has not hesitated to stand up to the big bosses in the energy sector, such as Ignacio Sanchez Galan, the head of Spanish utility giant Iberdrola, and Josu Jon Imaz, the head of Spanish oil firm Repsol.

As minister she has also clashed at times with von der Leyen, deeming her to be too soft at times on environmental issues.

“She’s going to be faced with some very complex arithmetic. Let’s hope she has the courage to fight for progress” on environmental issues, said Saldana.

SHOW COMMENTS