Press cartoon of the week Catalonia comes to Brussels

Lessons in seceding

Published on 2 November 2017 at 18:54

On the day after the Catalan parliament proclaimed the Spanish region's independence and the subsequent local government's takeover by the Spanish central government, Catalonia's dismissed president Carles Puigdemont and several former members of his administration moved to Brussels to escape a possible arrest and to "explain the Catalan problem in the institutional heart of Europe".

In doing so, he triggered a political crisis within the Belgian coalition government, with Immigration and asylum minister, Flemish nationalist Theo Franken, suggesting Belgium could grand Puidgemont asylum.

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