Clara Ponsatí has returned from exile and put her feet on the ground in Barcelona without first going through the Supreme Court. It was a few minutes past 5pm when the MEP and Catalan minister whose mandate was terminated by Article 155 appeared at the Catalonia Journalists Association amid enormous media expectancy, putting an end to five years and five months of exile between Edinburgh and Brussels, between Scotland and Belgium, her two places of residence during this time. There is a warrant for her arrest in Spanish territory that the Mossos d'Esquadra, following judicial instructions, proceeded to fulfill while she was walking through the centre of Barcelona and she was arrested, in the middle of the street, by plainclothes officers, who took her to the courts of the Ciutat de la Justicia, where she still remains, more than three hours later, at the time of writing this article.
It is clear that there has been a judicial situation of derision aimed personally at Ponsatí and a breach of the inviolability that she possesses as a member of the European Parliament and that is fully recognized. Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena is behind this violation of the rights of an MEP, in an action that leaves Spain - even if its institutions and government look the other way - in an extraordinarily uncomfortable position for not having respected the immunity enjoyed by Ponsatí. This puts on show what many suspect: if this is the attitude towards an MEP who is only subject to an arrest warrant for disobedience, which does not mean prison, what would they not do with president Carles Puigdemont who is also subject to a misuse of public funds charge with a demand for a very long prison sentence?
Ponsatí, spirited, belligerent and provocative, that is, in her most natural state, appeared in order to confront the injustice, criticize the Spanish state's repression and denounce the inaction of the Catalan institutions, starting with the government of President Aragonés. She did it accompanied by her blue backpack, the same one with which she set off on her journey into exile on October 28th, 2017; in this small bag she put all her personal things and set out on a path, then unknown. For many, Ponsatí embodies the radicalism and the exile which has the most challenging and critical version of what has happened in Catalonia since 2017. Perhaps for this reason, although she presented herself as an independent on the Together for Catalonia (Junts) list, she has not ever joined the party and has spoken in a voice of her own, one which has been uncomfortable for her political group on many occasions. This did not create any obstacle to the Junts leadership accompanying her throughout this day and being present at the courts to support her.
Ponsatí crossed the border by car via La Jonquera in the early afternoon as any another visitor would and without the police services detecting her presence despite the fact that the preparation of the operation had occupied some days and many people knew about her return. Although she came through the La Jonquera border by car along the motorway, this was not her first intention, which included another point of political intent. Her first idea was to travel back via La Vajol, in the Alt Empordà, where Catalan president Lluís Companys and José Antonio Aguirre, the lehendakari - president of the Basque government - went into exile on February 5th, 1939. A few hours before that February 5th, the same path had also been taken by Manuel Azaña, president of the Spanish Republic, the then speaker of the Spanish Cortes, Diego Martínez Barrio, and Juan Negrín, prime minister of Spain.
The MEP, who has been particularly active against the closure of the secondary border crossings between Spain and France, calling for them to be opened immediately due to the harm the blockage poses to residents on either side of the border, had spent Monday night in Northern Catalonia and then departed at noon on Tuesday. And she did so heading towards La Vajol with the intention of entering Southern Catalonia via this border post. The huge rocks placed to prevent the passage of vehicles did not allow her to follow the route along this road, but the MEP got out of the car and for history's sake took her first steps after the long exile in that place so emblematic and with so many memories.