The Spanish government has reacted to Carles Puigdemont's announcement that he is "provisionally" standing aside from the possibility of being reinvested president of Catalonia, and his suggestion of Jordi Sànchez as JxCat's alternative candidate, by celebrating that it was their actions which, they claim, have prevented him legally returning as president.
"After a month and a half, Puigdemont accepts that he won't be president of Catalonia, something which would not have been possible without the [Spanish] government's determination to use all the resources at its disposal to prevent this mockery of the applicable legislation", Moncloa government palace sources say. These "resources" include the appeal they presented to the Constitutional Court, which expressed opposition to an investigation at a distance or via a surrogate.
Mariano Rajoy's government repeats its insistence for a Catalan president, "the sooner, the better", who is able "to govern this community and duly attend to the management of the matters which interest its citizens". This follows Rajoy's unequivocal recent statements, saying that any candidate should be free of "legal matters". In other words, in his view, neither Sànchez nor Oriol Junqueras would be a good option.
Finally, the sources say that the central executive "will continue safeguarding the law, including the correct usage of public money. A fugitive from justice will not live at the expense of the public treasury". This comment is revealing, because the Moncloa said on 22nd February that they had no information as to how Puigdemont is paying for his stay in Brussels or whether he is using public funds to cover it.