Spain's foreign minister backs EU's decision to cancel Puigdemont-Torra event

Spain's foreign minister has said he agrees with the European Parliament's decision to cancel an event in the Brussels' chamber at which the former Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, was to have spoken alongside current president, Quim Torra.

Josep Borrell said on Monday that he found the Parliament's decision to cancel the event over security concerns to be "reasoned and reasonable," and said he would have done the same as the chamber's president, Antonio Tajani.

In fact, Borrell was President of the European Parliament between 2004 and 2007.

"There is a high risk that the proposed event could pose a threat to the maintenance of public order on Parliament's premises," said an EU statement on Friday, after a security request made by the chamber's Spanish unionist parties to call the meeting off.

Organized by Belgian MEP, Ralph Packet, the talk titled 'Catalonia and the referendum trial: a challenge for the EU' was also to have seen Puigdemont and Torra meet the international press. The event will now take place elsewhere, with the venue yet to be announced.

Puigdemont now lives in exile in Belgium after leaving Catalonia following the unilateral referendum and subsequent declaration of independence in the Catalan parliament, which was declared illegal by the Spanish authorities.