Catalonia wants out; Spain says no

A famous German children's song, popular in the south of Germany and Switzerland, has gone viral in Catalonia for a coincidence in its chorus: the repeated "Bi-Ba-butzemann" sounds similar to the Spanish [Catalonian] "viva Puigdemont". A listener told radio programme Versió RAC1 of the find, which has caused a buzz online.

The Butzemann, originally a German bogeyman, is, in the song's lyrics, collected by the Grimm brothers, described as a small elf-like creature who dances round houses at night giving apples to well-behaved children.

As TV3's correspondent in Germany, Oriol Serra, explained to radio program Estat de Gràcia, the song is also used for a children's game. Kids sit in a circle with one, the Butzemann, dancing round the outside carrying a bag. The Butzemann leaves their bag behind one of the other kids who then has to catch them before they can run round the circle and sit in their place. If they don't get caught, they take that kid's place, who becomes the new Butzemann, otherwise it's their turn again.

Spanish prosecutors have handed over new information to Germany they hope will back their demand to extradite former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont on rebellion charges, the justice minister said Friday.

Rafael Catala told Spanish radio both sides had met Thursday at the headquarters of Eurojust, the European Union's judicial agency in The Hague, just one week after a court in Schleswig-Holstein rejected extraditing Puigdemont on the controversial charge.

It ruled that rebellion -- which carries up to 30 years in jail -- was not punishable under German law, and that the closest equivalent, high treason, did not apply because Puigdemont's actions were not accompanied by violence.

Catala said that with thenew data, the German prosecutor would now be able to "provide further information to substantiate" the use of violence which would justify the rebellion charge.

According to Spanish daily El Pais, the new information includes videos of alleged violent acts and police reports.

Hundreds of thousands of Catalan separatists rallied in downtown Barcelona on Sunday to demand the release of high-profile secessionist leaders being held in pre-trial detention.
Protesters waved Catalan separatist flags behind a huge banner that read “for rights and liberties, for democracy and unity, we want them back home!”

The demonstration was organized by two pro-independence grassroots groups, the National Catalan Assembly and Omnium, whose presidents are among the nine separatists in prison awaiting trial for their roles in last year’s failed breakaway bid by the northeastern Spanish region.

The Spanish supreme court judge investigating the Catalan independence referendum has asked Spain’s finance minister to explain why he claimed that no public money was used to stage the vote, saying the assertion contradicts one of the key allegations facing the former regional president and other members of his sacked government.

Carles Puigdemont and several of his former ministers are currently under investigation over allegations of misuse of public funds, rebellion and sedition relating to their roles in last October’s illegal vote on splitting from Spain.

However, in an interview published on Monday, the finance minister, Cristóbal Montoro, told the Spanish newspaper El Mundo that while he did not know where the funds for the vote had come from, “I do know it wasn’t public money”.

The claim prompted a ruling from Judge Pablo Llarena two days later ordering Montoro “to provide, as soon as possible, the specific objective basis for those assertions”.

Llarena also noted that several of those under investigation had seized on the minister’s statement as proof that the misuse of public funds allegations were unfounded.

“Some of those under investigation,” he wrote on Wednesday, “have based their arguments on statements from the finance minister in which he allegedly expresses the certainty that no public money was spent on the vote held in Catalonia on 1 October 2017.”

The judge also said such statements “contradicted evidence sources gathered during this investigation”.

Puigdemont, who fled to Belgium following the referendum and the subsequent unilateral independence declaration, is currently in Germany facing possible extradition to Spain under an international arrest warrant.

Two weeks ago, a court in Schleswig-Holstein rejected the extradition request over the rebellion allegations, but said Puigdemont could be extradited over possible misuse of public funds.

On Tuesday, the Spanish supreme court hit out at the German court, accusing it of “a lack of rigour” in its handling of the rebellion allegations.

France’s former prime minister Manuel Valls is considering standing in Barcelona’s mayoral election next year, as a candidate for the Spanish centre-right Ciudadanos party, it has emerged.

Valls, who was born in Barcelona to a Catalan father and Swiss-Italian mother, has been a vocal critic of the drive for Catalan independence, which is also fiercely opposed by Ciudadanos.

Asked on Friday about the party’s offer for him to represent it in the election, Valls said: “I would be interested in continuing in the debate on independence and I’m going to study it.”

In an interview with the Spanish public broadcaster TVE, Valls said the secessionist movement had stalled, leaving Catalonia a fractured place. “The separatist project has been killed off by the response from King Felipe and Europe, but the [secessionist] ideas will carry on and the process will be a long one because society is very divided,” he said.

Valls was France’s prime minister between 2014 and 2016. He staged an unsuccessful bid to become the presidential candidate of the French Socialist party at the 2017 election.

The 55-year-old politician has positioned himself as a high-profile opponent of Catalan independence in recent months and took part in a pro-unity rally in Barcelona in March.

Support for Ciudadanos (Citizens) has risen owing to its tough stance during the independence crisis. The party’s regional group, led by Inés Arrimadas, won the most seats and the largest share of the vote in December’s Catalan elections, even though pro-independence parties retained their parliamentary majority.

Polls suggest that Ciudadanos, which was founded 12 years ago, would win a general election in Spain if one were held now, pushing the ruling People’s party (PP) into second place and overturning decades of dominance by the conservative PP and the Spanish Socialist party.

Barcelona’s current mayor, Ada Colau, is the leader of Barcelona en Comú, a citizens’ movement backed by several leftwing parties.

Today is the feast of Sant Jordi (Saint George), a day celebrated with much enthusiasm and joy in Catalonia.

Jeremy Corbyn will today reiterate his pledge to introduce a new national holiday to mark the patron saints of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

He will tell a union conference on Monday – St George’s Day – that after eight years of “damaging Tory austerity”, Britain’s workers deserve a day off.

In his speech, the Labour leader will also point to the Windrush scandal, claiming that the “sickening Go Home vans” used in 2013 showed that the government’s “patriotic posturing” was a sham.

Under Labour’s proposals, UK-wide public holidays will be held on St David’s Day (March 1), St Patrick’s Day (March 17), St George’s Day (April 23) and St Andrew’s Day (November 30).

With eight public holidays, the UK has the fewest of any G20 or EU country, Mr Corbyn will tell the annual conference of the Communication Workers Union in Bournemouth.

BERLIN (Reuters) - Pro-independence Catalan politicians aim to nominate former leader Carles Puigdemont to head their regional government, in defiance of Spain and despite his self-imposed exile in Germany, a spokesman said on Saturday.

After meeting Puigdemont in Berlin, where he is currently waiting for Germany to rule on a Spanish request to extradite him, a spokesman for the secessionist group in the regional parliament said they wanted to install him by May 14.

“We want to vote on the investiture of @KRLS (Puigdemont), a legitimate president, the one who emerges from the polls with the mandate ... before May 14,” Eduard Pujol tweeted after addressing reporters in Berlin.

Madrid called regional elections in Catalonia in December in a bid to curb the independence movement, which plunged Spain into its biggest crisis in decades, but the plan backfired and the secessionists kept a slim majority.

Puigdemont had fled Spain in October after Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy sacked his government. Rajoy has since repeatedly dismissed the suggestion by Puigdemont’s allies that he could rule from a distance.

Time is running out for Catalan lawmakers to pick a leader - if they fail to form a government by May 22, a new election must be held.

This will be the fifth attempt to install a new regional president since Madrid imposed direct rule on Catalonia, but Spain has already said it will contest a new law, passed in the Catalan parliament on Friday, that allows members to vote for an absent leader.

MADRID (Reuters) - The Spanish Constitutional Court has suspended a law that would have allowed the Catalan parliament to vote in former leader Carles Puigdemont as their regional head in absentia, a court spokesman said on Wednesday.

The law, passed last week in the Catalan parliament, will be suspended while judges consider whether the law breaches the country’s constitution.

The Spanish government earlier appealed the law, which would have allowed the former leader to be elected at a distance while he waits in Berlin for German courts to rule on a Spanish request to extradite him.

MADRID (Reuters) - Former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont on Thursday proposed member of parliament Quim Torra as candidate for head of the Catalan government as the region attempts to put an end to a seven-month impasse and form an administration.

Catalan lawmakers must pick a leader to form a government by May 22 to avert more elections, following a standoff during which separatist politicians put forward candidates who were blocked by the courts for being either abroad or in jail.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy called regional elections in December after sacking the previous administration for illegally declaring independence from Spain. However, pro-independence parties again won a majority of seats.

Torra is a lawyer and journalist who has been active in pro-independence lobbies in the wealthy region. He has published several books about the history of Catalonia, according to the Catalan parliament website.

Puigdemont, who fled to Belgium after being sacked as regional leader, is currently in Berlin waiting for German courts to rule on a Spanish request to extradite him on a charge of misuse of public funds.

Puigdemont proposed Torra as candidate in an address released on his YouTube video channel. Torra will need to be confirmed in a vote of confidence in the Catalan parliament.

During investiture debate speech, the politician said he will begin a “participatory process” and create a Constitution for Catalonia, promising to be faithful to the mandate of the illegal referendum of October 1

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MADRID (Reuters) - The Catalan parliament elected hard-line separatist Quim Torra as regional leader on Monday, heralding an end to seven months of direct rule from Madrid but also more political uncertainty in a region that retains a mandate to seek a split from Spain.

The deeply-divided parliament voted 66 in favor, 65 against and 4 abstentions for the election of Torra, handpicked by the region’s exiled former leader Carles Puigdemont.

A Spanish extradition request for three Catalan politicians, who fled to Brussels after a disputed independence referendum, has been rejected. The Belgian court found the request was vague and contained irregularities.
[...]
• The Brussels Court of First Instance said the extradition request against Meritxell Serret, Antoni Comin, and Lluis Puig was thrown out because there were no corresponding Spanish arrest orders.
• The lack of corresponding Spanish legislation means that the European arrest warrants are unenforceable.
• The court also found irregularities and imprecisions in relation to the extradition request, despite requesting further information from Spanish authorities, the Belga news agency reported.
• Prosecutors say that Spain can't appeal the decision.