Catalan declaration of independence

The Catalan Republican Left (ERC), the party of regional Prime Minister Pere Aragons, wrote a letter on Monday to the centre-right Together for Catalonia (JxCAT) party, led by former exiled Prime Minister Carles Puigdemont.

Former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont, who fled Spain after a failed secession bid for the northeastern region in 2017, was detained on Sept. 23 in Sardinia, Italy, his lawyer said.

Puigdemont, who lives in Belgium and now holds a seat in the European Parliament, has been fighting extradition to Spain, which accused him and other Catalan independence leaders of sedition.

Puigdemont is on a wanted warrant in Spain for holding a referendum on Catalonia's independence two years ago.
The protests against that referendum came not only from Madrid but also from Brussels.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez confirmed on Friday a general election would be held in Spain on April 28, reported Euro News. 

The decision followed the Spanish parliament's rejection of the government's preliminary 2019 budget on Wednesday.

The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Ramush Haradinaj, has told the Spanish daily newspaper El Pais that his country will never recognise the independence of Catalonia from Spain, adding that Kosovo and Catalonia do not have anything in common and "establishing any analogy is senseless".

Ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont called for immediate "political dialogue" to end the row with Madrid as he left a German jail on bail on April 6 after judges rejected his extradition to Spain on a rebellion charge.

DW - An event organizer had critical words for both Germany and Spain when it came to the imprisonment of Catalonia's ex-president. Meanwhile, politicians from Germany's The Left party paid Puigdemont an Easter prison visit.

Former Catalan premier Carles Puigdemont has been detained by German police as he crossed the border from Denmark. The detention comes after the European arrest warrant for the ousted premier was reactivated on Friday.

Former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont has every confidence in European justice, and particularly in the Belgian one, he said Sunday during a press conference in Geneva, where he was visiting, The Brussels Times writes.

The President of the Catalan Parliament, Roger Torrent, has proposed Jordi Sanchez as a candidate for prime minister after Carles Puigdemont withdrew his candidacy.

53-year-old Jordi Sanchez has little chance of becoming Catalan prime minister because of conflicts in the separatist camp and because he is in jail.