EU won't get involved in Catalan leader arrest warrant

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Europe

The EU on Friday refused to intervene over the European arrest warrant Spain is set to issue for Catalonia's deposed leader Carles Puigdemont, currently holed up in Belgium, saying it was a matter for the courts.

A Spanish judge is expected to issue the warrant demanding Belgium return Puigdemont, who is wanted for questioning over alleged sedition, rebellion and misuse of public funds in relation to his region's independence drive.

Catalan efforts to make the crisis an international issue have so far failed, and the European Union has been steadfast in its support for Madrid throughout, insisting it is an internal matter for Spain.

Demonstrators wave banners and flags as sacked Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont leaves a news conference at the Press Club Brussels Europe in Brussels, Belgium, October 31, 2017. /Reuters Photo‍

European Commission spokeswoman Annika Breidthardt reiterated that support at a news conference on Friday, deflecting a barrage of questions about Catalonia with the same response.

"This is a matter entirely for the judicial authorities whose independence we respect fully," Breidthardt said. Puigdemont's Belgian lawyer Paul Bekaert, who in the past has helped Basque separatists militants challenge Spanish extradition requests, told Flemish television channel VRT on Thursday his client would fight efforts to send him to Spain.

Puigdemont, sacked as regional president a week ago by Madrid after the Catalan parliament issued a declaration of independence, has been in Belgium since Monday and calls the allegations against him politically motivated.

Sacked Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont's Belgian lawyer, Paul Bekaert, speaks in his office in Tielt in Belgium November 2, 2017. /Reuters Photo

A Spanish judge on Thursday threw eight members of Puigdemont's axed regional government behind bars pending potential trial, prompting a protest by some 20,000 people in Barcelona.

The Catalan independence declaration was roundly spurned across Europe, with Germany, France and Britain rejecting it and EU institutions sticking to their support for the government of Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

The European Commission's powerful chief Jean-Claude Juncker warned after the independence declaration that the 28-member bloc "doesn't need any more cracks, more splits," saying he didn't want the EU "to consist of 95 member states." Juncker will be in the Spanish city of Salamanca on Thursday to receive an honorary degree.

Source(s): AFP