www.journalgazette.net
www.journalgazette.net
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People gather outside the Catalonia parliament during a parliamentary session in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018. A new Catalan parliament is meeting following a botched secession attempt last year and amid looming questions about the role that fugitive and jailed politicians will play in the chamber's separatist majority. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
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Deputy Roger Torrent, center, is congratulated after being elected as the new president of the Catalan parliament after a parliamentary session where elected lawmakers meet for the first time after regional elections in Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018. Catalonia's new parliament has begun meeting amid looming questions about the role that fugitive and jailed politicians will play in the chamber's separatist majority and the future regional government (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Friday, January 19, 2018 7:36 am
Former Catalan leader seeks long-distance 'tech' government
The Associated Press
MADRID (AP) — Catalonia's fugitive former leader, who wants his old job back, says new technologies would allow him to govern from Belgium.
Carles Puigdemont spoke to Catalan public radio from Belgium, where he fled to avoid a judicial probe in Spain over secession attempts.
The challenge led Spanish central authorities to disband the Catalan Cabinet and call an election in the northeastern region. Results granted separatists a slim parliamentary majority.
But with ousted Catalan Cabinet members under investigation, jailed or in Belgium and facing arrest if they return home, the Catalan parliament's new governing body must decide by the end of January whether to permit Puigdemont's re-election through a proxy delegate.
Spain's central government has vowed to impede Puigdemont's reinstatement by challenging it in courts if necessary.
