The Catalan president in exile Carles Puigdemont has demanded this Tuesday that the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, intervene "this very day" to protect the rights of the MEP, Clara Ponsatí, arrested in Barcelona by the Mossos d'Esquadra. Puigdemont denounced that Ponsatí enjoys immunity as a member of the European Parliament and that she can only be arrested in case of "flagrant crime". Thus, the president in exile considers that the Spanish state has "violated the immunity" of Ponsatí. Faced with this fact, he said, he trusts that Metsola "will not do what is always done when it comes to Spain, which is to look the other way or assert that they are right". For Puigdemont, Ponsatí's arrest requires "the intervention today" of the president of the European Parliament. "Your intervention cannot be to remain silent when a member of this European chamber has been arrested without having committed any crime".
Speaking from Brussels, Puigdemont said that Ponsatí "was able to enter her city freely". The president-in-exile was pleased about the MEP's return: "She has used a personal situation for political benefit, we have always said that we do not look for personal ways out, because we want a solution to a political conflict: this is the need and we must denounce that there are no personal solutions, but political ones”.
Puigdemont evaluates Ponsatí's return
Puigdemont evaluated the way in which Ponsatí proceeded to return to Catalonia. According to the president-in-exile, this is a step that Ponsatí "has not taken behind the backs of those in exile or the people of Catalonia". For Puigdemont, the Junts MEP comes out reinforced from her return because she has done so by being faithful to her "commitments". "Today Clara made an act of intelligent confrontation, she has not given up, what she has done once again is to show the contradictions in the structures of the Spanish state, highlighting the shortcomings, once again," he remarked.
The president-in-exile asserted that after the step taken by Ponsatí this Tuesday "Clara's fight continues" and with her example, he added, "she spurs us on in this same fight and we expect her tomorrow among us". In this regard, Puigdemont once again reiterated his call for Metsola's intervention, claiming that she must "act impartially because she is president of all MEPs". Puigdemont remarked that Metsola needs to take an interest in Ponsatí today because she is an MEP who has been "arrested" and the president of the European Parliament needs to "protect her rights" because she "represents the members of the EU". Puigdemont pointed out that the rights of MEPs are there "to prevent states from abusing them".