ANOTHER turbulent week in Cataluña’s politics has ended with the arrest of former leader Carles Puigdemont in Germany. Earlier, a failed attempt to elect a new president of the region’s parliament last Thursday was followed by the arrests of five former Catalan politicians, while a sixth fled to Switzerland.
Sr Puigdemont was attending a political conference in Finland on Friday when a judge in Madrid reactivated European arrest warrants for him and five other Catalan politicians who have been in self-imposed exile. The former regional president was stopped after his car crossed the border into north Germany on his way back to Belgium, to where he fled following the illegal October referendum on independence. He has been remanded in custody and German authorities have 60 days to decide whether to accede to Spain’s extradition request.
