The Spanish deputy prime minister, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, has threatened the Council of the Republic to be presided over by Carles Puigdemont. "We won't allow parallel structures", she said, in relation to the planned bodies to be set up in Belgium.
Sáenz de Santamaría also said that they won't allow "even a single euro to leave the public treasury" for Puigdemont's expenses in Belgium. In fact, the Council of the Republic is studying other sources of financing to avoid Spanish state money.
Translation: Carlos Puigdemont will not be president of Catalonia because the Spanish government appealed his candidacy to the Constitutional Court. We will not allow parallel structures, nor for a single euro to leave the public treasury for him to live in Brussels.
The deputy PM also insisted on the PP party's narrative that it is the actions of the Spanish government which mean Puigdemont will not be president.