More than a hundred Catalan intellectuals have signed a manifesto presented on Tuesday, backing the swearing-in of Carles Puigdemont as new Catalan president. At present, Puigdemont is imprisoned in Germany, awaiting a judge's decision on his extradition under a European arrest warrant issued by Spain. Meanwhile, the Catalan parliament has been unable to choose a president to form a new Catalan government since the Catalan elections last December, with the exiled Puigdemont being the original candidate proposed - he had majority acceptance in parliament, but was unable even to enter the country to be sworn in.
Josep Lluís Carod Rovira, Ramon Cotarelo, Liz Castro or Hèctor López Bofill are some of the prominent figures who have given their support to the text, along with university teachers, lawyers, philosophers, historians and journalists. They describe themselves as belonging to "republican, left-wing, social and trade union spheres".
They urge the Catalan Parliament to propose the swearing-in of Puigdemont and encourage all "democratic and republican political groups" to give him their support and ensure that the investiture and, therefore, the new government can move forward. They refer to Puigdemont as "a figure of international reference, an example of dignity and coherence" and they recall that his he is only active politician who has declared the Catalan Republic.
The manifesto states that "we are at a very critical moment in our history" with Francoism having "appeared again". It denounces that the Spanish state removed Puigdemont illegally from the presidency last November "by means of biased political and legal manoeuvres" and since December's election, won by the pro-independence block, the state has once again employed similar strategies to limit the new MPs' ability to act freely: strategies which are "typical of an authoritarian state, with no separation of powers."