Sources close to Catalan president Carles Puigdemont's entourage declare having information from the French authorities as to the existence of an under cover operation by the Spanish police with a significant deployment of agents in Strasbourg with the aim of arresting Puigdemont and his minister, both MEPs-elects, in the absence of a European arrest warrant.
According to the same sources, the Spanish police could consider using a bilateral agreement between the French and Spanish governments regarding the readmission of persons in an irregular situation. This norm would be applicable in cases of irregular immigration, but it would also contemplate the possibility of targeting citizens of either State. In fact, this possibility had been originally thought of for the arrest of Basque separatist group ETA's activists.
The agreement can be applied to "anyone who does not comply or has ceased to comply with the entry or stay conditions applicable within the territory".
The same sources put forward the idea that the Spanish authorities would be considering the application of this agreement in order to proceed with Puigdemont's arrest with the aim of taking him directly to Spain, avoiding any other jurisdictional control. Puigdemont's defence team considers that the terms of this 2002 agreement would make this hypothesis feasible.