BRUSSELS/MADRID (Reuters) – Catalonia’s ousted leader Carles Puigdemont said on Tuesday he accepted the snap election called by Spain’s central government after Madrid took control of the region to block its push for independence.
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/Yves Herman
Puigdemont, speaking at a news conference in Brussels, also said he was not seeking asylum in Belgium after Spain’s state prosecutor recommended charges for rebellion and sedition be brought against him. He would return to Catalonia when given “guarantees” by the Spanish government, he said.
Spain’s Constitutional Court on Tuesday blocked the unilateral declaration of independence made by the regional parliament on Friday, a move that gained no traction and led to its dismissal less than an hour after it was made.
Carles Puigdemont attends a news conference in Brussels, Belgium, October 31, 2017. REUTERS/Eric Vidal
“I ask the Catalan people to prepare for a long road. Democracy will be the foundation of our victory,” Puigdemont said.
The Spanish government has said Puigdemont was welcome to take his chances and stand in the Dec. 21 election, called by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy as a way to resolve the stand-off.
The political crisis, Spain’s gravest in the four decades since the return of democracy in the late 1970s, was triggered by an independence referendum in Catalonia on Oct. 1.
European nations including Britain, Germany and France have backed Rajoy and rejected an independent Catalan state, although some have called for dialogue between the opposing sides.
