Pedro Sánchez's Spain executive has spoken out in defence of the Schengen open borders area and the European Arrest Warrant system, the day after a Schleswig-Holstein court agreed to extradite Carles Puigdemont for misuse of public funds only. The German judges refused to hand him over for the charge of rebellion, meaning he can't face trial for that more serious allegation in Spain.
"The Spanish government doesn't share the doubts over the effectiveness of the European Arrest Warrant. We defend Schengen in all senses, especially [in terms of] people and goods", said education minister and government spokesperson Isabel Celaá in the press conference after today's cabinet meeting. "Questioning Schengen is to side with certain European positions that we do not share, which affect millions of people and young people," she said.
The comments come after the PP and Ciudadanos parties have strongly criticised the German decision. PP candidate for leader Pablo Casado said "if I'm leader of the PP I won't tolerate this type of humiliation. (...) The Schengen area can be abolished if there are no guarantees that Spain is respected". For his part, Ciudadanos Congress deputy Juan Carlos Girauta said that "instead of moving forwards towards the European legal space, we're going backwards towards the European impunity space". Meanwhile, a PP spokesperson, in a video on the party's Twitter feed, directly called for the suspension of the agreement.