Consultive body tell Rajoy Puigdemont’s presidency can’t be challenged now

The Spanish Council of State sees no breach of the law in the Catalan Parliament plans to invest Carles Puigdemont as Catalan president—at least, not until the swearing in effectively takes place. In a blow to the Spanish government, which aims to bring Puigdemont’s candidacy to the Constitutional Court anyway, the Council of State stated on Thursday evening that there is no basis for challenging the election in advance.

Rajoy's cabinet goes ahead despite consultive body report

Earlier in the day, the Spanish vice president, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, announced that the government had asked the opinion of the Council of State—a prior step to the appeal in Spain’s highest court. The permanent commission of the Council met in the afternoon to analyze the proposal and issued a response on the same day. Yet, the Council of State is a consultative body and the government later confirmed that it was going ahead without its approval.

Puigdemont's response

Shortly after the Council’s response, Puigdemont asked via Twitter for Sáenz de Santamaría’s immediate resignation for “the fraud she was planning to orchestrate.” The Catalan Parliament president, Roger Torrent, confirmed on Thursday that plans to elect Puigdemont as president of the Catalan executive were going ahead, and announced that the investiture debate would take place on January 30 at 3pm.