LOC17:36
14:36 GMT
BRUSSELS, Nov 3 (KUNA) -- The European Union (EU) stated Friday that an European arrest warrant for sacked Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont, who is in Belgium and has refused to go to court in Madrid, is a matter for the judicial authorities in Spain.
"This is a matter entirely for the judicial authorities whose independence we respect fully. We respect the constitutional order of Spain," a spokesperson for the European Commission Annika Breidthart told a news conference here today.
Prosecutors have asked Spain's high court to issue European arrest warrants for Puigdemont and four other former ministers of the Catalan regional government.
14 ex-members of the Catalan regionl government, including Puigdemont, were charged on Monday with rebellion, sedition and embezzlement.
According to Belgian media reports, when the warrant is issued, Belgian authorities will have to arrest the Catalan separatist leader.
Catalonia held a referendum on independence from Spain on 1 October which was declared by a Spanish constitutional court illegal.
Last week, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy imposed direct rule on Catalonia, dissolving the regional parliament and calling local elections for 21 December. This followed after the Catalan parliament voted to declare the independence of the region.
Meanwhile, the prime minister of the regional Flemish government in Belgium, Geert Bourgeois expressed his "shock" by the Spanish decision to put members of the ousted Catalan government behind bars, and to issue a European arrest warrant against five members of the cabinet.
Local media quoted Bourgeois, a Flemish nationalist himself, saying that "putting democratically elected government members behind bars is more than a bridge too far" and called on the European Union "to take action." (end)
nk.mt