nsnbc : Deposed Catalan President Carles Puigdemont spoke at a gathering of Catalan mayors at the Bozar cultural centre in in the Belgian capital Brussels explicitly and thanked Belgium’s governing Flemish nationalist party, the N-VA, for its support in recent weeks. He then went on to blasts the EU’s response.
The deposed Catalan President Puigdemont’s speech was his first act in public since he reported to Belgian police after Spain issued a European arrest warrant against him. Two hundred Catalan mayors who had traveled to Brussels to support Catalan independence welcomed Puigdemont when he entered the hall. They shouted “President” and “Liberty” in Catalan. Several politicians from the Belgian N-VA and Vlaams Belang parties also attended.
Puigdemont thanked Flemish nationalists for “their dedication to democracy, their solidarity, friendship and efforts in support of values that are coming under threat in Catalonia but especially in Europe”. He said that citizens were puzzled by the European Union’s failure to respond to abuse.
Addressing European Commission President Juncker he said: “Are you continuing to support Mr Rajoy and his putsch? Europe is better protected by the people who protected the ballot boxes than the police who beat people.” The Catalan leader also accused Spain of maltreating colleagues who are jailed and insisted that Spain should answer to international justice.
Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, for his part, drew attention to Belgium’s special situation as a small country with two nationalities and said Belgium could play a pioneering role. “We’ve already experienced numerous community and institutional discussions. We’ve always been able to sort them without violating the constitution. Dialogue is the most important thing.”
The Belgian PM denied he had responded slowly to the news that the Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont was in Belgium: “On Tuesday I stated that he enjoyed the same rights as every EU citizen.” The Belgian leader noted that he couldn’t get involved in the judicial process with regard to Spain’s request for Mr Puigdemont to be surrendered: “Justice must do its work. … If a request for political asylum materializes it won’t be a political issue either. It isn’t up to politicians to decide who gets asylum here. … My most important message is dialogue. Hopefully this will get people round the table.”
Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy, for his part, communicated via Twitter rejecting direct communications with Puigdemont and insisting that his only interlocutor is Belgium. “We must respect the rule of law and therefore the independence of Belgian and Spanish judges.” he added.
F/AK – nsnbc 08.11.2017
Source Article from https://nsnbc.me/2017/11/08/puigdemont-asks-jucker-are-you-continuing-to-support-mr-rajoy-and-his-putsch/
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