Puigdemont calls unionist efforts to bar him from European election 'desperate'

Responding to the efforts of the unionist PP and Cs parties to have him barred from running in the upcoming European election, former president Carles Puigdemont called the attempt "desperate."

On Thursday, the two parties that fiercely oppose Catalonia's independence appealed to Spain's electoral authority to exclude Puigdemont and two of his former ministers from standing in the election because they are not registered residents of Spain.

The former president and some of his ministers left Catalonia for Belgium following the failed independence bid in October 2017. Although charged with rebellion, they have so far avoided the Spanish judiciary's attempts to extradite them.

According to Puigdemont, Cs and PP "are once again making fools of themselves" with their appeal, and he insisted that he and his former ministers, Toni Comín and Clara Ponsatí, who will run on the same ticket, have "every right" to stand in the election.