Catalonia wants out; Spain says no

NATO takes "very seriously" any Russian attempts to interfere in foreign elections, including during Spain's Catalonia crisis, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in Madrid on Thursday.

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's government on Friday decided to ask the Constitutional Court to block former leader Carles Puigdemont's bid to lead Catalonia again, the deputy prime minister said.
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The row over Puigdemont's candidacy will come to a head on Tuesday when the Catalan parliament plans to vote on it.
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The government's decision to appeal directly to the constitutional court comes after the Council of State - the supreme consultative council of the Spanish government which advises on serious issues - advised against it on Thursday.

The ousted Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, has admitted privately that his attempt to secure regional independence is over and claims he has been sacrificed by his own side, according to messages sent to a colleague and captured by TV cameras.

On Wednesday, a Spanish TV show published messages that Puigdemont had sent to his former health minister Toni Comín while the latter was at an event in Leuven, Belgium, the previous evening.
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Pep Guardiola and his family were left stunned recently when the Guardia Civil searched his plane in El Prat airport in Barcelona searching for exiled Catalan nationalist politician Carles Puigdemont.

The Manchester City manager's plane was set to return to the north-east of England after his family spent time in Barcelona during a brief break in the team's schedule. Without a word, the Guardia Civil officers entered the plane and started looking for Puigdemont, who has been living in Brussels since a failed attempt to earn Catalonia independent status through a unilateral declaration of the region's independence. The vote that took place to make such a declaration was considered unconstitutional and Puigdemont was forced to flee the country.

• Guardiola wore ribbon in solidarity with Catalan leaders
• FA says message was in breach of its kit and advertising regulations

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has been charged by the Football Association for wearing a political message.

The FA said in a statement that the yellow ribbon worn by the former Barcelona boss on his jacket in support of imprisoned Catalan politicians was in breach of its kit and advertising regulations.

Guardiola, whose side face Arsenal in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday, has until 6pm on Monday, 5 March to respond to the charge.

Guardiola, who was born in the Catalan town of Santpedor and spent the best part of 20 years at Barcelona as player and coach, has previously explained his reasons for wearing the ribbon, which he has sported since at least November.

Speaking in December, he said: “I do that because in Spain two specific people who defend something like the vote, something the people in command do not agree (with), are in prison. It’s unfair.

“To make a rebellion on something like that, you have to be something tough to be in prison. And they are still there. So, while they are not out, always here (points to ribbon) will be shared with me. Because, OK, they can suspend me for doing that, but the other people are in jail. If they want to suspend me - Uefa, Premier League, Fifa - it’s OK.”

Guardiola was specifically referring to politicians who were imprisoned for their involvement in the Catalonia independence referendum, which was declared illegal by Spain, in October.

Guardiola explained his stance in response to comments from Manchester United manager José Mourinho, who questioned whether the ribbon was within the rules and claimed he would not be allowed to do a similar thing.

Carles Puigdemont has abandoned his attempt to be reappointed Catalonia's regional president and tapped an imprisoned politician to succeed him. The regional parliament spent the day supporting Puigdemont.

Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont is giving up his candidacy for Catalonia’s regional presidency, he said in a video posted to social media on Thursday.

"I will not put myself forward as a candidate to be appointed regional president," Puigdemont said.

Puigdemont said he planned to step aside temporarily to allow someone else to assume the presidency during his continued self-imposed exile in Belgium.

Puigdemont tapped Jordi Sanchez to assume the candidacy. Sanchez is an influential pro-independence campaigner who is currently in jail in Madrid on charges of sedition.

In the video, he called it unconstitutional to continue holding Catalan politicians in jail over their calls for the region's independence.

Lawmakers in Catalonia’s separatist-dominated regional parliament had spent the day proclaiming Puigdemont as their legitimate leader, in defiance of Spain's Constitutional Court ruling that he can't take office. The court said the regional president must physically be in parliament to take office. Puigdemont has said he fears he will be arrested if he returns to Spain.

Various Spanish media outlets had pondered whether Thursday’s parliamentary motion was a first step in appointing a presidential candidate other than Puigdemont, and at the same time offering him a "symbolic" role from Belgium.

But the appointment of 53-year-old Sanchez would be problematic given he has been in jail for more than four months.

Madrid has been directly ruling Catalonia since Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy took control of the region after it illegally declared independence in October.

The fugitive Catalan leader, Carles Puigdemont, has suspended his attempts to return to office but intends to preside over a government in exile and carry on his drive for independence from the safety of Belgium.

Speaking to the Guardian a day after he announced he was stepping back from the presidency and anointing a jailed MP as his successor, Puigdemont said he would use a new “Council of the Republic” to coordinate and further the secessionist cause.

“It’s like a government in exile,” he said. “It’s not in the shadows. We prefer to work in the free space without threats or fears. It must act without the problems of Spanish justice or police. It’s a cabinet or government that must represent … our political reality.

“It will represent the diversity [of Catalonia]. I will invite all the other parties to take part. The council must have representation from local communities and civic society ... We will move from the old system of government for the people to a new system which is [government] with the people.”

Puigdemont said he would serve as president of the council, adding that the separatist parties’ victory in last December’s snap election gave him the necessary legitimacy.

On Thursday evening, Puigdemont said he had decided not to continue his bid for the regional presidency and suggested that Jordi Sànchez, an MP in his Together for Catalonia party, should be the candidate.

However, Sànchez, the former head of the influential pro-independence Catalan National Assembly, is in a Spanish prison as part of an investigation into alleged sedition and rebellion in the run-up to last October’s unilateral independence referendum.

Puigdemont admitted he had doubts as to whether Sànchez would be allowed out of prison to attend the investiture debate, but said the push for independence would continue.

The deposed president also launched a blistering attack on King Felipe, accusing him of ignoring the constitution – something of which Puigdemont himself stands accused – and the Catalan people.

He said the king, who has consistently supported the Spanish government, “has acted outside the Spanish constitution, outside the role of referee” which he should have adopted as monarch.

“[The king] excluded the millions of Catalans who voted for independence,” Puigdemont said.

“He has become head of state of only one part of society. For that reason, the monarchy has lost Catalonia. His visit [to the region this week] was not a happy one. It was a mistake.”

Puigdemont contrasted Felipe’s response to the Catalan crisis with the way his father, Juan Carlos, handled the attempted coup in 1981.

“His father put on a military uniform and made a civil speech,” he said. “This king put on a civic suit but made a military speech. A republic has no need of a king.”

Puigdemont, who faces arrest on possible charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds the moment he returns to Spain, accused the Madrid government of acting in bad faith and said he should have declared independence earlier.

“The Spanish state said that if we didn’t vote for independence [immediately] they would start a dialogue,” he said.

“Several diplomats [from other countries] told me they would encourage a process of dialogue. That was a misleading statement from the Spanish state but I only knew that afterwards. I prefer dialogue. For that reason I suspended our declaration [for several weeks].”

There were ultimately no talks and Spain’s prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, responded to the declaration of independence by sacking Puigdemont and his government, assuming control of Catalonia and calling new elections.

Puigdemont said that while he still he favoured dialogue with Madrid, “there’s no one on the other side of the table”. The Spanish state, he said, had conducted negotiations three times with the Basque separatist group Eta, which carried out bombings and killings.

“But they won’t talk to us and we are democratically elected representatives. We have never used violence or killed a single person.”

Asked if there will be campaigns of civil disobedience against the Spanish state in Catalonia, he replied: “Civil disobedience is not a crime. It’s non-violence. I will not promote it but I have to respect people’s choices. It’s a democratic tool.”

Asked why he had not chosen political martyrdom in prison – his former vice-president, Oriol Junqueras, has been in jail since November – Puigdemont said: “I must continue the struggle in the best conditions. I need to have freedom of speech and movement. That’s not possible in Spain. I’m psychologically ready for prison but I want to continue fighting for Catalonia.”

He resists descriptions of Catalan separatists as “nationalists”, preferring the term “sovereignists’; colleagues refer to the Catalan movement as “civic nationalism”. He added: “This is not a nationalist movement. We are expressing the right of self-determination. It’s not about flags or [ethnic] identities.”

Puigdemont traces his desire for Catalan independence back to his family’s humiliating experiences under Franco’s dictatorship.

“I was educated in the Franco era,” he said. “We could only speak Catalan at home; it was prohibited at school and in public media. There’s a whole generation that was not allowed to talk Catalan publicly.”

Puigdemont’s wife and two daughters still live in his hometown of Girona but visit every few weeks. He accepts that his experience of exile is very different from that of his grandfather, who fled to France after the Spanish civil war.

“Every day I can speak to my family through technology. I can help my daughters with their homework but I would not wish this situation on my enemies. It’s not human. I’m not a criminal, I have never used violence.”

Most of the time Puigdemont lives outside Brussels, in a sparsely furnished, rented villa in nearby Waterloo.

He acknowledges the inevitable historical echoes. “I pay homage to Wellington, not Napoleon,” he said. “For me, Waterloo is a place of victory not defeat.”

Thousands have marched in Barcelona calling for Tabarnia, a fictional province in Catalonia, to break away and remain part of Spain. The pro-unity protest was blasted for trivializing the Catalan independence movement.
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Sunday's rally saw self-declared Tabarnians wave banners with the slogans, "The joke is over" and "Tabarnia free of populism," while a tune they claimed was the fake province's national anthem played. The demonstrators also waved the fictional Tabarnia's proposed four-square flag, as well as many flags of Spain and some Catalan flags.
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The satirical Tabarnia campaign began in the lead-up to Catalonia's failed independence referendum last October, but it only gained traction following the subsequent snap regional election in December.

A petition appeared on Change.org, calling for the non-existent Tabarnia province to force its own separation from Catalonia and remain part of Spain. The movement quickly took on a life of its own and as of Sunday had garnered more than 281,000 signatures.

Social media memes backing the petition went viral, calling for "Freedom for Tabarnia" and "Catalonia robs Tabarnia," imitations of the ones used by supporters of Catalan independence to promote separation from Madrid.

The hypothetical Tabarnia region even has its own exiled president, a further mocking reference to deposed Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont, who fled to Brussels following the failed independence vote. The role is played by actor and director Albert Boadella, an outspoken critic of Catalonia's separation from Spain.
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MADRID (Reuters) - Spain’s Supreme Court on Friday turned down a request by Catalan regional presidential candidate Jordi Sanchez to be allowed out of jail to attend a parliamentary session to swear in a new leader, in a further blow to the region’s bid to split from Spain.
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In a 26-page ruling, Spanish judge Pablo Llarena based his decision not to let Sanchez out on his belief there was a risk of a repeat offence.

A Catalan parliament spokesman said Monday’s parliamentary session would still go ahead.

On Friday, the Spanish government’s spokesman Inigo Mendez de Vigo reiterated that any candidate put forward to lead Catalonia should not be in jail or under judicial investigation.

Self-exiled leader Puigdemont has blamed "the enormous irresponsibility of the state" for a political impasse in Catalonia. The Supreme Court has blocked the release of his possible successor, citing repeat offenses.

Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont on Friday said fresh elections could not be ruled out as the region's independence movement faces challenges in forming a new government.

"It is no tragedy if there are new elections, although it is not the priority and no one desires it," Puigdemont told Catalan nationalist newspaper El Punt Avui. Puigdemont has set up residence in Brussels after fleeing Spain following Catalonia's failed independence bid.
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Parliament Speaker Roger Torrent decided to wait for a European Court of Human Rights ruling on whether a jailed leader of the region’s independence movement can be Catalonia’s next president.

as an aside: the European Court of Human Rights has nothing to do with the EU but is the court for Human Rights in the 47 member states of the Council of Europe.

Jailed? I'd thought he was outside Spanish jurisdiction?

I have no idea how you guys keep track of all of your governing bodies.

How many decades is it going to be before the European Court of Human Rights makes this ruling?

It is impossible to indicate the length of
proceedings before the Court.
The Court endeavours to deal with cases
within three years after they are brought,
but the examination of some cases can take
longer and some can be processed more
rapidly.
The length of the proceedings before the
Court obviously varies depending on the
case, the formation to which it is assigned,
the diligence of the parties in providing the
Court with information and many other
factors, such as the holding of a hearing or
referral to the Grand Chamber.
Some applications may be classified as urgent
and handled on a priority basis, especially in
cases where the applicant is alleged to be
facing an imminent threat of physical harm.

The only ones that have any impact on the US are the OAS, Rio Pact, and NAFTA.