EXTRADITION hearings for three Catalan independence leaders exiled in Belgium facing European Arrest Warrants (EAWs) issued by Spain will be heard on December 16.

Former ministers Toni Comin and Lluis Puig appeared in a Brussels court yesterday, when a judge accepted a request by lawyers to merge their cases with that of Carles Puigdemont, former Catalan president, who is also in Belgium.

The move came the day after another former minister, University of St Andrews Professor Clara Ponsati, appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on a similar EAW.

All three are charged in connection with their activities in helping organise the October 2017 independence referendum in Catalonia.

This is the third time that Spain has tried to extradite the trio in Belgium. Spain’s Supreme Court withdrew the first EAW in December 2017 and the second was rejected by Belgian authorities because of “procedural defects and irregularities”.

It is also Spain’s third attempt at bringing Puigdemont to heel after the first warrant was withdrawn in December 2017. The second bid came in Germany when a court there did not recognise the charge of rebellion and only accepted another charge alleging that he misused public funds in the organisation of the indyref.

However, the lesser charge was not enough for Madrid and it withdrew the EAW. Lawyers for Comin and Puig will lodge their arguments against extradition with the Brussels judges on November 25, with the public prosecutor submitting his case by December 5.

Their case will be heard four days after Ponsatí is next due to appear in court in Edinburgh.

She is charged with sedition, along with Puigdemont and Comin, who are also accused of misusing public funds, with Puig facing a similar charge and one of disobedience.

Meanwhile, 23 indy-supporting MPs could hold the key to plans by acting Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez to form a coalition government between his Socialist party and the left-wing Podemos.

The Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) and Together for Catalonia (JxCat) are seeking a joint strategy, possibly involving the far-left Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP), after Sanchez failed to win enough seats to form an administration.

ERC has already rejected supporting Sanchez’s investiture unless there is a dialogue on the Catalan crisis.

Party leader Gabriel Rufian and spokesperson Marta Vilalta have written to JxCat’s Laura Borras, proposing that they continue advancing the independence cause: “We are confident that

we will again reach agreements that will allow us to move forward with more force towards the

shared goal of the exercise of self-determination and independence.”