Carles Puigdemont can return to Spain as court lifts barrier

Spain’s Supreme Court on Monday, 19 October, upheld the lifting of an arrest warrant against former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont over the 2017 independence referendum, allowing him to return without arrest in that case after nearly nine years abroad, BBC News reported.

The court rejected an appeal by the far-right Vox party against removing national arrest warrants for Puigdemont and his former regional ministers Lluís Puig and Toni Comín. The decision follows a Constitutional Court ruling earlier this month that overturned the Supreme Court’s interpretation excluding them from an amnesty.

Puigdemont left Spain for Belgium after his regional government’s failed secession attempt in 2017. Monday’s decision clears the legal obstacle to his return; the report did not announce a date for his homecoming.

Amnesty dispute turns on alleged financial offences

Spain’s Socialist-led government introduced an amnesty in 2024 for dozens of Catalan politicians and activists involved in the independence campaign. The Supreme Court initially held that Puigdemont and several colleagues fell outside its protection because of alleged financial offences connected with organising the referendum.

The Constitutional Court rejected that interpretation earlier in October. By dismissing Vox’s challenge on Monday, the Supreme Court left the lifting of the warrants in place.

Comín, a former Catalan health minister, plans to travel to Madrid this week for administrative procedures related to his status as a member of the European Parliament.

Years abroad, with one dramatic return

The 2017 referendum, held despite Madrid’s prohibition, triggered a severe constitutional crisis. Police intervened heavily during the vote, and the regional parliament’s separatist majority subsequently declared independence. Madrid imposed direct rule, dissolved the parliament, dismissed the regional leadership and called an election.

Puigdemont settled in Waterloo, Belgium. Nine former colleagues were jailed over their roles in the 2017 events and later released following Spanish government pardons in 2021.

He remained politically active abroad, winning election to the European Parliament in 2019 and to the Catalan parliament in 2024 as leader of the centre-right Together for Catalonia party, known as JxCat. During the latter campaign, he held rallies in southern France attended by supporters who crossed the border from Spain.

His only known return to Spain during those years came in 2024, when he addressed supporters in Barcelona before leaving again for France without being detained. The appearance triggered a police search.

In a social-media video posted as Monday’s ruling emerged, Puigdemont described his time abroad as an effort to influence public opinion and draw European attention to the Catalan dispute.

A different political landscape

Puigdemont’s party retained influence in national politics: its parliamentary backing helped Pedro Sánchez form a new left-wing government after the 2023 election.

Within Catalonia, however, JxCat has faced competition from Catalan Alliance, a far-right pro-independence party attracting some of its voters. The report describes independence as a diminished national political issue, with housing and immigration taking greater prominence.

Spain is also heading towards a general election next month, with the possibility of the far right entering government. Puigdemont’s potential return therefore comes amid a changed political contest, rather than a revival of the circumstances surrounding the 2017 referendum.