DEPOSED Catalan president Carles Puigdemont is to meet newly elected pro-independence MPs in Brussels on Friday – less than a week before the new parliament is due to reconvene.
He called the meeting of Together for Catalonia (JxCat) – comprising his Catalan European Democratic Party (PDeCAT), the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) and the Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP) – to discuss the composition of the new parliament and what they see as a key body, the Parliamentary Bureau.
This would be the body that would allow Puigdemont, who is in exile in Brussels, to be sworn in as president. Any proposal drafted at the meeting will have to be ratified by ERC and the CUP over the weekend.
The group will also decide whether or not Puigdemont will be a candidate for the Catalan presidency.
JxCat has said he could be sworn in “at a distance” using Skype or similar technology, but the idea of his returning to Catalonia has not been ruled out.
Former president Artur Mas, meanwhile, who also fell foul of Spain’s legal system over the 2014 independence referendum and was barred from office for two years, has said the politicians will have to guarantee a stable legislature for four years.
Mas told the PDeCat executive that there were not enough pro-independence MPs and they would be unlikely to get their own way in parliament – hence his call for stability.
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