Catalan separatist Carles Puigdemont risks arrest with bid to sneak back into Spain

Carles Puigdemont plans to sneak back into Spain — and into the Catalan parliament — even though he risks almost certain arrest.

In an audacious move, Puigdemont wants to make the journey from the French border to Barcelona by Thursday in a last-ditch attempt to remain leader of the Catalan separatist movement. His problem: If he’s spotted by the police, he’ll be detained immediately.

“Puigdemont can’t just sneak in through a backdoor or through the kitchen … Maybe he’ll try to get smuggled in like Cleopatra in a carpet: With him, anything is possible,” said an official from the outgoing Catalan government who was granted anonymity in order to discuss the sensitive matter.

Puigdemont hasn’t set foot on Spanish soil since 2017 after being found guilty of helping orchestrate an illegal independence referendum. Back then, he evaded the Spanish authorities by sneaking across the border and fleeing to self-declared exile in Belgium. Now he’s trying to pull the same stunt in reverse.

It’s hard to see how he can achieve his goal.

While Spain’s border with France is open and cars crossing from one country to another are not subject to controls, Puigdemont will still have to cross the 170 kilometers that separate the French border and the Catalan parliament. Officials from Catalonia’s autonomous police force — the Mossos d’Esquadra — told Spanish media they had been in contact with members of Puigdemont’s entourage and attempted to hammer out a negotiated surrender, but that the separatist politician rejected that option outright.

“We’re talking about a secure installation, with police guards and security checkpoints,” said the same official.

Officials from Catalonia’s autonomous police force — the Mossos d’Esquadra — told Spanish media they had been in contact with members of Puigdemont’s entourage and attempted to hammer out a negotiated surrender. | Javier Soriano/AFP via Getty Images

Puigdemont’s team told POLITICO that he is intent on making what could be his last stand in the parliament, a former arsenal and royal palace. Outside of his entourage, few think he’ll be able to pull it off.

Last May, he was lead candidate of the separatist Junts party in a regional election, hoping to stage a triumphant return by being elected president for a second time. But Socialist Salvador Illa, Spain’s health minister during the Covid pandemic, scored the most votes.

Although Illa fell short of a governing majority, last week he secured the support of the Republican Left of Catalonia, a pro-independence party that was once allied with Puigdemont but which broke ties with him due to his constant attacks on their leaders. In exchange for Republican Left votes, Illa has promised to attempt to revise the region’s fiscal relationship with the rest of Spain — a longstanding demand of the separatist movement.

Puigdemont published a letter this past weekend vowing to be present in the Catalan parliament’s hemicycle when the new Illa administration is sworn in this Thursday — presumably in the hope of shaming his former separatist allies into breaking their agreement with the Socialists.

The politician accused the Republican Left of selling out the separatist movement, blasting the party for backing a government that “has no real negotiating capacity to resolve a historical conflict.”

A disruptive force

Puigdemont and his team appear convinced that if the politician makes it to the hemicycle, Spanish authorities will be unable to arrest him because the Catalan parliament’s regulations prohibit the detention of its lawmakers. But legal experts widely agree that an arrest warrant trumps the body’s rules, and that the police will not be impeded from taking him into custody.

If the arrest takes place, Puigdemont may achieve his goal of stopping Illa from taking office — at least temporarily. The Catalan parliament’s president, Josep Rull, belongs to the Junts party and is expected to suspend the session if the detention takes place.

It’s nearly certain that lawmakers would convene again within days, because if a new president is not chosen before August 26, new elections will have to be held. The Republican Left has already said that their agreement to back the Socialist is binding, no matter what happens.

A prison cell would be a big change for Puigdemont, who has been living in Waterloo, a leafy suburb of Brussels, since being granted safe haven in Belgium. The politician even campaigned for a seat in the European Parliament in 2019 and succeeded in getting elected from the site made famous by Napoleon and Wellington.

Josep Rull, belongs to the Junts party and is expected to suspend the session if the detention takes place. | Josep Lago/Getty Images

Puigdemont declined to stand for last June’s European Election in order to make a bid for the Catalan presidency, hoping to stage a triumphant return to the region he had fled seven years before. He expected to be able to do so without fear of arrest thanks to the broad amnesty law recently passed by the Spanish parliament, which ends legal action against all those involved in the Catalan independence effort.

But Spain’s judiciary has challenged that legislation, and the arrest warrant issued for Puigdemont remains in effect. That means the separatist politician’s latest stunt could end up costing him dearly. Pablo Simón, a political scientist at Madrid’s Carlos III University, said that once he is arrested, he’s likely to be sent to prison and not let out anytime soon.

“Judge [Pablo] Llarena — the magistrate overseeing his cases — could theoretically agree to a conditional release, but given the flight-risk precedence in this case, I think we can assume that he’ll be imprisoned until his case goes to trial,” Simón said.

“Since the Supreme Court considers that the crimes of which Puigdemont is accused — among them, embezzlement — are not subject to the amnesty law, he could be released … But he could also be kept there for a while.”