Unionist party head calls for ‘control’ of public TV after Puigdemont interview

Catalan public television should be put under the control of the Spanish authorities. That is according to the president of the unionist Ciutadans (Cs) party, Albert Rivera, who on Monday criticized Catalonia’s TV3 television channel for airing an interview with deposed Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, on Sunday evening.

Rivera called for a commission to be set up to regulate Catalonia’s public broadcasting corporation, or for it to come under the control of the authorities. “Public television cannot be free of control, either it is put under the control of the Catalan Parliament or under control of the Spanish Senate,” Rivera said in an interview with the Telecinco television channel.

Criticizing TV3 for dedicating “three hours of prime time” to an interview with the leader of the JxCat party, Rivera justified his comments, saying, “we cannot have a public television channel that does what it wants against democracy, the Constitution, and the law.”

The Cs leader added, “public money cannot be thrown out the window, in this case, devoted to secessionism and interviews with a gentleman who is a fugitive from justice,” he said in reference to Puigdemont, who is currently subject to an extradition process in Germany.

In Sunday’s interview, Puigdemont said there is still "time" to reach an agreement on forming a new Catalan government, thereby avoiding an automatic election. The deposed leader called for "patience" and was critical of the Spanish judiciary in jailing pro-independence leaders.