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Carles Puigdemont

In this Catalan name, the first or paternal surname is Puigdemont and the second or maternal family name is Casamajó; both are generally joined by the conjunction "i".

Molt Honorable
Carles Puigdemont
MEP
Official portrait, 2016
130th[1] President of the Government of Catalonia
In office
12 January 2016 – 27 October 2017
MonarchFelipe VI
Vice PresidentOriol Junqueras
Preceded byArtur Mas
Succeeded byDirect rule
(Quim Torra from 17 May 2018)
Member of the European Parliament for Spain
Assumed office
2 July 2019[n. 1]
President of the Council for the Republic
Assumed office
8 December 2018
Vice PresidentToni Comín
Preceded byOffice established
Member of the Parliament of Catalonia
In office
17 January 2018 – 30 July 2018
ConstituencyBarcelona
In office
10 November 2006 – 27 October 2017
ConstituencyGirona
Mayor of Girona
In office
1 July 2011 – 11 January 2016
Preceded byAnna Pagans
Succeeded byAlbert Ballesta i Tura
Member of the Municipality Council of Girona
In office
11 June 2007 – 11 January 2016
Personal details
Born
Carles Puigdemont i Casamajó

(1962-12-29) 29 December 1962 (age 61)
Amer, Catalonia, Spain
CitizenshipSpanish
Political partyJunts (since 2020)
Other political
affiliations
Spouse
​
(m. 2000)​
Children2
Residence(s)Waterloo, Belgium
OccupationJournalist, politician
Signature
WebsiteCarles Puigdemont

Carles Puigdemont i Casamajó (Catalan pronunciation: [ˈkarləs ˌpudʒðəˈmon i ˌkazəməˈʒo]; born 29 December 1962) is a Catalan politician and journalist from Spain. Since 2019 he has served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP). A former mayor of Girona, Puigdemont served as President of Catalonia from 2016 to 2017 when he was removed from office by the Spanish Government following the unilateral Catalan declaration of independence.[3] He is co-founder of the National Call for the Republic (CNxR), leader of the Together for Catalonia (JuntsxCat) electoral alliance and founder of the Together for Catalonia party.

After education in Amer and Girona, he became a journalist in 1982, writing for various local publications and becoming editor-in-chief of El Punt. He was the director of the Catalan News Agency from 1999 to 2002 and the director of Girona's House of Culture from 2002 to 2004. Puigdemont's family were supporters of Catalan independence and Puigdemont became involved in politics as a teenager, joining the nationalist Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC), the predecessor to the PDeCAT, in 1980. He gave up journalism to pursue a career in politics in 2006 when he was elected as a member of the Parliament of Catalonia for the constituency of Girona. He was elected to the Municipality Council of Girona in 2007 and in 2011 he became Mayor of Girona. On 10 January 2016, following an agreement between the Junts pel Sí (JxSí), an electoral alliance led by the CDC, and the Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP), the Parliament of Catalonia elected Puigdemont as the 130th[4] President of the Government of Catalonia.

On 6–7 September 2017, he approved laws for permitting an independence referendum and the juridical transition and foundation of a Republic, a legal framework superseding the Spanish Constitution to be put in place if the referendum supported independence. On 1 October 2017, the Catalan independence referendum was held in Catalonia despite the suspension of the laws by the Constitutional Court of Spain.[5] Polling stations were partially closed[6][7] and some saw the use of excessive force by the National Police Corps and Civil Guard.[8] A total 43% of Catalan citizens voted in the referendum, 92% of them supporting independence. The Catalan Parliament declared independence on 27 October 2017 which resulted in the Spanish government imposing direct rule on Catalonia, dismissing Puigdemont and the Catalan government. The Catalan Parliament was dissolved and the 2017 Catalan regional election was held. On 30 October 2017 charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds were brought against Puigdemont and other members of the Puigdemont Government. Puigdemont, along with others, fled to Belgium and European Arrest Warrants (EAW) were issued against them. At the regional elections held on 21 December 2017, Puigdemont's party, Together for Catalonia, was second, and Catalan secessionists retained a slim majority of seats and 47.6% of votes. Puigdemont called for fresh talks with the then Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy but these were rejected.[9]

Puigdemont remained in Belgium to avoid arrest if he returned to Spain, with this situation being defined as exile by some, self-imposed exile by some others, and also as fugitive from justice.[10][11][12][13][14] On 25 March 2018, he was detained by the Autobahnpolizei (highway patrol) acting on his European Arrest Warrant in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein. He was released on bail, with the state high court deciding he could not be extradited for "rebellion"[15][16][17] as German law does not coincide with Spanish law on the definition thereof, a requirement of his EAW. On 10 July 2018 a Spanish Supreme Court judge suspended him as a deputy in the Catalan parliament.[18] On 12 July 2018, a German court decided that he could be extradited back to Spain for misuse of public funds, but not for the more serious charge of rebellion.[19] Puigdemont's legal team said they would appeal any decision to extradite him.[19] Following the German court decision, on 19 July 2018, Spain dropped the European arrest warrants against Puigdemont and other Catalan officials in self-exile.[20] He was elected as a Member of the European Parliament after the 2019 European Parliament election in Spain. In March 2021, the European Parliament voted to lift his parliamentary immunity.[21] On 23 September 2021, it was reported that he had been arrested by police in Sardinia, Italy, acting on a tip-off and was being asked to be transferred to Spain under the terms of a European arrest warrant.[22] After a night in prison, he was released without any precautionary measures.[23] His parliamentary immunity was restored in May 2022.[24]

  1. ^ "Presidents of the Generalitat". catalangovernment.eu. Generalitat de Catalunya. Archived from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  2. ^ "Puigdemont inicia los trámites para recoger su acta de eurodiputado en el Parlamento Europeo". Cope. 20 December 2019. Archived from the original on 28 October 2020. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  3. ^ "Catalan leader vows 'peaceful resistance' as Madrid takes control of region". The Guardian. 28 October 2017. Archived from the original on 18 June 2018. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  4. ^ Heckle, Harold (10 January 2016). "Spain: Catalonia parliament to vote for new region". Business Insider. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 15 March 2021. Retrieved 14 November 2019. Puigdemont was voted in as Catalonia's 130th president in a 70-63 vote, with two abstentions in the 135-seat chamber.
  5. ^ La Vanguardia. "El Constitucional suspende el referéndum del 1-O y apercibe a los cargos independentistas" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 10 July 2021. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  6. ^ "Los Mossos aseguran que impidieron el voto en 99 colegios electorales el 1 de octubre" (in Spanish). El Pais. 11 October 2017. Archived from the original on 16 July 2021. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
  7. ^ Grierson, Jamie (30 September 2017). "Police close voting centres before Catalan referendum". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 6 March 2019. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
  8. ^ "Spain: Police Used Excessive Force in Catalonia". Human Rights Watch. 12 October 2017. Archived from the original on 23 November 2020. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
  9. ^ "Catalan president accuses Mariano Rajoy of ignoring call for talks". the Guardian. 12 October 2017. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  10. ^ "Exiled Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont ordered to return for re-election". The Telegraph. 28 January 2018. Archived from the original on 16 February 2018. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
  11. ^ "Catalonia Separatists Support Re-Election of Exiled Leader Puigdemont". The Wall Street Journal. 10 January 2018. Archived from the original on 16 February 2018. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
  12. ^ "Catalonia's Separatists: In Exile. In Jail. In Power?". The New York Times. 5 January 2018. Archived from the original on 15 February 2018. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
  13. ^ "Fugitive Catalan leader denies giving up independence bid after text messages saying 'battle is over'". The Independent. 31 January 2018. Archived from the original on 11 February 2018. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  14. ^ "Exiled Catalan leader rents £4,000-a-month house in Belgium, fuelling rumours he won't go home". The Telegraph. 2 February 2018. Archived from the original on 14 February 2018. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  15. ^ "Carles Puigdemont: Former Catalan president 'detained'". BBC. 25 March 2018. Archived from the original on 25 March 2018. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  16. ^ Burgen, Stephen; Oltermann, Philip (25 March 2018). "Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont held by German police". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 25 March 2018. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  17. ^ "Puigdemont, detenido por la policía alemana cuando entraba desde Dinamarca". El Mundo (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 25 March 2018. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  18. ^ Llarena cierra el sumario del 'procés' y suspende como diputados a Puigdemont y Junqueras Archived 15 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine Published by El País, July 10, 2018, retrieved July 10, 2018
  19. ^ a b Oltermann, Philip (12 July 2018). "Carles Puigdemont can be extradited to Spain, German court rules". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 12 July 2018. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
  20. ^ "Catalan case: Spain drops warrant against Puigdemont". BBC News. 19 July 2018. Archived from the original on 20 July 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  21. ^ "Puigdemont: 'Sad day' for democracy as MEPs vote to lift immunity". euronews. 9 March 2021. Retrieved 25 September 2022.
  22. ^ Casey, Nicholas (23 September 2021). "Catalan Separatist Leader, Carles Puigdemont, Is Arrested in Italy". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 24 September 2021. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  23. ^ "Catalan exile Puigdemont freed by Italian court". BBC News. 24 September 2021. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  24. ^ "EU court reinstates MEP immunity of Catalonia's Carles Puigdemont". euronews. 24 May 2022. Retrieved 20 June 2023.


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