Puigdemont will only return from Brussels following “a political pact” with the Spanish State
It was announced by Ferran Bel, the head of political action of PDECat, Puigdemont’s party
BarcelonaTortosa mayor Ferran Bel, who is also a PDECat MP in the Spanish parliament and leads the party’s political action, announced that Carles Puigdemont will return to Barcelona to be sworn in as President of the Generalitat provided that there is “a political pact” with the Spanish state beforehand. “The pact must be political and instrumental. Political problems should have a political response”, claimed Bel speaking on Spanish TV network Cuatro, when he was asked whether he would contemplate an agreement with the Prosecutor that might allow Puigdemont to return to Catalonia without being arrested.
A “distance investiture” has been nearly ruled out
Ferran Bel didn’t rule out the possibility of Puigdemont being appointed president via a “distance investiture”, but he noted that it would be for the “135 member of parliament” to decide: “if there are no guarantees, we will need to look for and explore other alternatives”.
The Catalan MP mentioned that the priority of Junts per Catalunya and the PDECat is for Puigdemont and the ministers who are exiled in Brussels to collect their credentials personally, together with the two newly-elected MPs who are currently in custody in Spain’s Estremera prison.
Bel denied that ERC leader Oriol Junqueras might seek to be elected president during the investiture debate: “our agreement was that Puigdemont would be the candidate, if he won more seats in the election. We won’t be arguing over that”, he remarked.
On Thursday Spain’s Supreme Court will consider whether to uphold or reverse the decision by judge Pablo Llarena to keep Junqueras on remand, after confirming Carmen Lamela’s ruling to keep the ERC leader in custody on November 2.