Junqueras must be freed for presidency if Puigdemont doesn’t return, says ERC MP

The Spanish Congress spokesperson and MP for pro-independence Esquerra Republicana (ERC) party, Gabriel Rufián, defended that the party’s number one candidate for the December 21 elections, Oriol Junqueras, must be released because “he cannot continue with this ordeal.”

The politician said that Junqueras must be able to be invested as president of the Catalan government if Carles Puigdemont does not return from Brussels. “We can’t have a president via Skype,” observed Rufián, alluding to Carles Puigdemont’s communication via video conference and the suggested option that he be sworn in as president in the same manner. 

The ERC spokesperson in Spanish Congress further stated that the case against the Catalan government will “end up at the European Courts of Human Rights” and he’s made it clear that if Junqueras is not released, ERC will “continue to denounce the situation.”

Rufián doesn’t discount a government in two countries

As regards negotiations to form a new government, Rufián echoed the statements of ERC spokesperson Sergi Sabrià in affirming that Puigdemont “is Plan A” and “the legitimate president” but he also went on to say that, if the aforementioned is not able to return from Belgium, it should be Junqueras’ turn. “It is appropriate to have two different realities,” he explained, giving as an example “part of the government in Brussels doing international work,” with “an executive government led by Junqueras in Catalonia.”