“This is my last conference as president,” Putzdemon told members of the Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia) party in Argeles-sur-Mer, a French coastal town near the border with Spain.
The Catalan leader Carlos Putzdemona key figure in Catalonia’s attempt to secede from Spain in 2017, was replaced today by his party leader by a duo that includes a representative of the hard wing, Laura Boras.
«This is my last conference as PresidentPuigdemon told members of the Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia) party who met in Argeles-sur-Mer, a French coastal town near the border with Spain.
«Organizations must be able and able to make substitutions“, Added the 59-year-old Putzdemon.
The separatist leader had said in early May that he would not run for the post of leader of his formation because the formation needed, he said, a more active presidency than he could offer.
Head of the regional government of Catalonia during the secession attempt in October 2017, Pujdemon escaped a little later to Belgium, where he settled for almost five years to escape the persecution of Spanish justice.
The Court of Justice of the EU At the end of May, he restored his immunity as an MEP, which had been lifted by the European Parliament, but Putzdemon is still waiting for European justice to rule on the substance of this very complicated case.
In 2017, the Catalan separatists staged a referendum on self-determination despite a ban by Spanish justice and then unilaterally declared Catalonia’s independence.
Nine separatist leaders were sentenced in 2019 to up to 13 years in prison for their role in the split. The left-wing Spanish government decided last year to give them a name in the name of “reconciliation”.
THE Jordi Tourulwho was officially appointed the new general secretary of the Junts today, was one of these imprisoned leaders.
He will form a duo of party leaders with the speaker of the Catalan regional parliament, Laura Boras, a representative of the hard wing, who in turn took over the presidency of the formation in place of Putzdemon.
Third in last year’s regional elections, Pujdemon is a member of the separatist regional government, led by the other pro-independence party, the ERC (Democratic Left of Catalonia).
Tensions between the two parties continue as Junts strongly criticizes the dialogue with the central government conducted by the ERC, which supports the central government in the Spanish parliament.
