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Madrid to keep control of Catalonia if Puigdemont tries to govern remotely

January 17, 2018 04:28·
Reuters

Reuters

The lawyers of the Catalan assembly have also expressed their reserve about a possible long-distance investiture of Puigdemont as Catalan leader, insisting that the former leader has to be present in the Catalan Parliament building to be sworn in and that the act can not be carried out by video-conference.

Spain warned Monday that Madrid would maintain its unpopular direct control over Catalonia if ousted regional leader Carles Puigdemont tries to govern again from exile in Belgium.

In order to be elected regional president, he must in theory attend the parliamentary session on which the vote takes place, but he wants to appear through a video or write a speech to be read by someone else.

The Catalan assembly's regulations are not clear on whether a candidate can be considered in absentia.

The parliament will meet for the first time on January 17 to choose the committee that rules its day-to-day activities.

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Rajoy commented on Monday that his government would maintain Article 155 should Puigdemont be chosen to return to his former post.

Consequently Puigdemont faces arrest and almost certain imprisonment if he returns to Spain and as in the case of his former deputy leader, Oriol Junqueras (who has spent over two months in prison), it would be unlikely the Spanish Supreme Court would grant him bail.

Rajoy said if Puigdemont were re-elected, constitutional powers invoked by the government in October to impose direct rule on the region would continue to apply.

The separatists' long campaign to declare Catalonia independent from Madrid was boosted on December 21, when the pro-independence CUP (Popular Unity), ERC (Catalan Republican Left) and Puigdemont's JxCat (Together for Catalonia) won 70 seats in the 135-seat Catalan parliament - just two fewer than their previous total. Other former Cabinet members and parliamentary officials have been released from jail, but remain under investigation.

The Catalan crisis, Spain's worst political trouble decades, came to a head when separatist lawmakers declared independence October 27 based on the results from an October 1 voter referendum that Spanish courts had suspended. However, almost all of the elected lawmakers under investigation have pledged to act within the law from now on.

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