Ex-Catalan leader Puigdemont headed back to Spain despite fear of arrest

Spain’s governing coalition could be at risk if separatist is arrested on return from seven-year exile.

Catalan separatist Carles Puigdemont has announced he is headed back to Spain following seven years in self-imposed exile.

The former leader of the Catalonia region said on Wednesday that he is set to travel to the country. Police have said they are ready to arrest him, which would threaten to spur fresh unrest in Catalonia and potentially destabilise the governing coalition in Madrid.

The 61-year-old Puigdemont, who has been living in Belgium, did not say in his announcement when or how he would arrive in Spain. He faces several charges linked to his role in the region’s 2017 independence bid, which included the organisation of an illegal referendum.

“I have started the return trip from exile,” he said in a video posted on X, adding that he intended to attend Thursday’s parliamentary session in Barcelona at which Socialist Salvador Illa is due to be appointed as the new Catalan president. That will end more than 10 years of separatist governments in the northeastern Spanish region.

The event is likely to attract a significant number of supporters for the hardline separatist.

Although Puigdemont did not disclose how he would travel or where he would enter Spain, Catalonia’s regional police said they intend to obey court orders to arrest him if he appears.

Puigdemont said he recognised that he “cannot attend freely” the scheduled parliamentary session and accused authorities of “a long persecution”.

“This challenge must be answered and confronted,” he said.

Fresh turmoil

Puigdemont’s potential arrest and imprisonment threatens to unleash fresh turmoil in Catalonia.

It could also destabilise the fragile Socialist-led coalition ruling Spain, which relies on Puigdemont’s hardline Junts party to pass legislation.

As a condition set by Junts for its legislative support for Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s government, Spain’s parliament in May approved an amnesty law aimed at allowing Puigdemont’s return from Belgium by cancelling legal proceedings against hundreds of separatists.

However, the Spainish Supreme Court said last month that amnesty should not apply to a charge of embezzlement against Puigdemont, and upheld the arrest warrant against him.