Image copyright AFP Image caption With the election of Roger Torrent as speaker, separatist MPs have control of Catalonia's parliament

Catalan MPs in Barcelona have elected a pro-independence speaker at their first meeting since Madrid dissolved the region's parliament.

The choice of Roger Torrent is the first step to reinstating local government.

Separatist parties, who remain dominant after December's election, want Carles Puigdemont to be president again.

But the ex-leader risks arrest if he returns from self-imposed exile in Belgium.

He is wanted by Spain on charges of rebellion and sedition over last year's independence drive.

And Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy says Catalonia's autonomous powers will not be restored, if the regional parliament permits Mr Puigdemont to lead the government from exile.

Mr Rajoy took direct control of the region - sacking its leaders and dissolving its parliament - after Mr Puigdemont and his government declared independence in October.

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Separatist lawmakers secured control of parliament on Wednesday with the election of Mr Torrent, a member of the left-wing separatist ERC party.

He beat an anti-independence candidate by 65 votes to 56.

The session was broadcast to a flag-waving crowd outside.

ERC's leader, Oriol Junqueras, is among three Catalan MPs in prison awaiting trial over the independence push. But they were allowed to vote to select a parliamentary speaker via proxies.

Five others in self-imposed exile in Belgium did not assign proxies. Yellow ribbons were placed on their empty seats.

The MPs also met to select a board who will decide who gets the first chance to form a government. It will have two weeks to pick a president.

It is likely to nominate Mr Puigdemont to lead the region, and his supporters say he could potentially do so via video link from Belgium.

Mr Puigdemont's spokesman, Joan Maria Piqué, told the BBC's Gavin Lee that it was perfectly plausible for him to be president remotely. He pointed to how Donald Trump uses Twitter as a prime source of interaction in the US.

But lawyers for the Catalan parliament council, an advisory body, have said it would not be legal or within the Spanish constitution to allow for a president in exile. </s> Catalonia’s new parliament has elected a pro-secession speaker, virtually guaranteeing the push for independence for Spain’s northeastern region will go ahead.

The opening session of the new Catalan assembly came amid looming questions about the role that fugitive and jailed politicians will play within the chamber’s separatist majority and the future regional government.

Ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont, who fled to Belgium in October to dodge a Spanish judicial probe, wants to be reinstated to his old job.

But he faces arrest if he returns to Spain and legal hurdles if he wants to be voted in from abroad by the regional assembly.

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Mr Puigdemont’s seat and other empty seats in the parliament were adorned with a yellow ribbon today.

Four ex-Cabinet members sought by Spain’s Supreme Court are also in Brussels and three more elected lawmakers, including former Catalan Vice President Oriol Junqueras, have been jailed on provisional charges of rebellion or sedition.

Other former Cabinet members and parliamentary officials have been released from jail, but remain under investigation.

Spanish central authorities took direct control of Catalonia following the unilateral declaration of independence by separatist lawmakers on 27 October.

Under special powers, Spain fired Mr Puigdemont’s government, dissolved parliament and forced a new regional election on 21 December in the hope of halting the secession drive.

But contrary to Madrid’s hopes, separatists regained their slim parliamentary majority despite receiving less than half of the votes, although Ciutadans (Citizens) – a party that fiercely opposes independence – gained the most seats.

Several hundred people rallied near the parliament in central Barcelona, waving separatist flags as they watched the new house speaker’s election on a large outdoor screen.

Roger Torrent, a lawmaker with the left-republican ERC party, was elected to head the assembly’s governing committee that plays a key role in deciding what issues are debated and voted on in parliament.

“I want democracy and coexistence to be the foundations of this term,” Mr Torrent told fellow lawmakers from the speaker’s podium as he vowed to restore the self-government of Catalonia that is now in the hands of Madrid.

He also said, as speaker, he would defend the right of “all 135 voices in the chamber”, including those fugitive or in jail.

But Ciutadans leader Ines Arrimadas criticised the inaugural session, saying, “We start the legislature as we finished the last one, with a parliament speaker who is going to work only for independence.”

However, Ms Arrimadas pointed out things had changed in the parliament because the secessionist bloc now had fewer seats and votes and the independence stance had no international support.

“No matter what happens, we are going to be the guarantors for Catalonia not to make any independence declaration,” she said.

Although Ms Arrimadas’ party won the most seats – 36 – unlike the secessionist bloc, she lacks enough support to form a government.

Mr Torrent is tasked with choosing a candidate to try to form a government by the end of the month.

The two secessionist parties back the candidacy of Mr Puigdemont, but the former president would first have to get approval from Mr Torrent’s committee to vote and be elected from abroad.

Elsa Artadi, spokeswoman for Mr Puigdemont’s Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia), said the separatists were “working to explore all the tools in the parliament’s rules to see what will be the formula”.

Parliamentary legal advisers said in a report this week Mr Puigdemont could not be sworn in via video link or by having a proxy candidate as he must debate his candidacy in person in parliament.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has also vowed to maintain direct rule over Catalonia if the fugitive separatist politician tries to resume office from Brussels.

The parties that promote Catalan independence jointly hold 66 seats in Catalonia’s parliament and also have support from four pro-independence, anti-establishment lawmakers.

Polls consistently show that most Catalans want the right to decide the region’s future, but are evenly divided over splitting from Spain.

‘He’s extremely vigorous’: Jeremy Corbyn not too old to be Labour leader </s> BARCELONA: The new pro-independence speaker of Catalonia's parliament on Thursday started meeting party representatives to pick a regional president, with exiled former leader Carles Puigdemont in the lead for the post.

The central government in Madrid has already warned it will keep direct control over Catalonia if Puigdemont tries to govern from Belgium, where he and other ousted ministers fled after declaring independence from Spain in October.

On Wednesday, the region's separatist block regained control of the Catalan parliament following the assembly's dissolution on October 27 by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in response to the breakaway attempt.

Fresh from a victory in December elections that gave them an absolute majority in parliament, separatist lawmakers elected Roger Torrent of the left-wing, pro-independence ERC party as speaker.

Four out of seven of his deputies are also pro-independence.

Their next step is to regain control of the government with Puigdemont as their leader.

Torrent, 38, who gave a conciliatory first parliamentary speech on Wednesday, is holding talks with all the different assembly groups to designate the candidate with most support.

He was due to meet Thursday with the Socialists, who oppose independence, and Catalunya en Comu, the Catalan allies of far-left party Podemos, who are also against Puigdemont as candidate.

Puigdemont's Together for Catalonia list won the most votes in December within the separatist bloc, but he is in Brussels in self-imposed exile after escaping just days after the regional parliament declared independence.

He risks arrest on charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds for his role in the failed independence bid if he comes back to Spain.

He wants to present his candidacy and government programme to parliament -- a prerequisite to being voted in -- remotely via videolink or by having someone else read it for him.

The Catalan parliament's legal experts, however, say the contender has to be physically present and Madrid has vowed to block him.

But the final say lies in Torrent and his deputies, who will ultimately decide whether or not to allow it.

Last week, Torrent hinted that he would follow what the parliament's legal experts said.

But his ERC party has said it will support Puigdemont as president. </s> Early on January 30, Roger Torrent, speaker of the Catalan parliament that was returned at the December 21 elections, suspended that day’s session. It had been set down to elect outgoing president Carles Puigdemont as head of the new Catalan government.

The decision of Torrent, a leading member of the pro-independence Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), came after the Spanish Constitutional Court had ruled two days earlier that the investiture of Puigdemont, in exile in Brussels, could not take place

Moreover, as someone facing charges of “rebellion” and “sedition” he would have to get the permission of Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena—author of the preventive detention of other Catalan MPs—to actually attend the investiture session.

Finally, if Torrent and the Catalan parliament’s speakership panel went ahead with the investiture session in violation of these conditions they would incur legal sanctions. In the words of the Constitutional Court’s ruling:

Torrent justified his decision to suspend the January 30 session on the grounds that he wanted to ensure a “real investiture” for Puigdemont.

If January 30 had been a normal investiture session, Puigdemont’s election would have been a formality. As leader of the party Together For Catalonia (JxCat) that had won the most seats within the 70-seat pro-independence majority, he had the support of the other pro-independence forces: the centre-left ERC and the anti-capitalist People’s Unity List (CUP). He also faced no rival from the 57-seat unionist minority of Citizens, the People’s Party (PP) and the Party of Socialists of Catalonia (PSC).

Even in the extraordinary situation of detention and exile for eight Catalan MPs and the Spanish government’s October 27 sacking of the Catalan government under article 155 of the Spanish Constitution, Puigdemont was still sure of a 68-vote majority in the 135-seat chamber. Two of the jailed MPs—detained outgoing vice-president Oriol Junqueras (ERC) and former Catalan National Assembly (ANC) leader Jordi Sànchez (JxCat)—would still able to votewhile four others had already declined their accreditation as MPs and had been replaced by the next candidates on the JxCat and ERC tickets.

Only one issue remained unresolved: would Puigdemont be able to deliver his investiture address by video link from his Brussels exile or have it delivered for him by another MP? Or would he try to get back into the Catalan parliament by stealth?

On January 15, the legal counsel of the Catalan parliament delivered a majority opinion against investiture, but the final word lay with the speakership panel, on which JxCat and ERC have a four-three majority. If the panel had been free to rule that Puigdemont could be invested, then he would be, even though the unionist parties said they would immediately appeal such a decision to the Spanish Constitutional Court.

The prospect of Puigdemont—symbol of Catalonia’s independence struggle—returning as head of government panicked all wings of the Spanish establishment, beginning with the PP administration of prime minister Mariano Rajoy but including the opposition Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) and the new-right Citizens.

If the Catalan parliament backed Puigdemont as president how was he to be removed? On what grounds could Spanish King Felipe, embodiment of Spanish state rejection of the “illegality” of the Catalans’ cause, formally refuse recognition of their parliament’s decision? Could the ongoing support of the European institutions for Spain’s handling of its Catalan headache be guaranteed in such a situation?

The more the Rajoy government looked at the issue, the clearer it became that it had no choice: it had to mobilise the powers of the state to block the investiture of the man it was deriding as a “political zombie” even as it obsessed over how to exorcise him. Former PSOE leader and minister Alfredo Rubalcaba expressed this position in a January 26 interview on radio Onda Zero: “Puigdemont cannot be president and what we are discussing now is how to stop that at the lowest cost.”

To prevent the “zombie” returning by stealth, interior minister Jose Ignacio Zoido had the Civil Guard and Spanish National Police set up road blocks, check car boots, keep minor airports under surveillance and scour the sewers under the Catalan parliament. Civil Guard teams even entered French territory without permission to conduct searches.

On January 25, Spanish deputy prime minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, in charge of operations in Catalonia, announced that she was reversing the Rajoy government’s usual approach of waiting for the Catalan parliament to act before appealing decisions. It would instead seek the endorsement of Spain’s highest legal consultative body, the Council of State, for its support for a preventive injunction against Puigdemont’s investiture from the Constitutional Court, on the grounds that he was an “outlaw” lacking “liberty of movement”.

Yet, much to the horror of Rajoy and company, the Council of State recommended that they not go ahead with the injunction because it had no solid legal basis. If upheld by the Constitutional Court, that body would be taking upon itself the right to decide which elected candidates a parliament could and couldn’t appoint to positions of officethey had been elected and despite no objection having being made against them as candidates—a clear case of violating democratic rights and even perverting the course of justice.

However, the Rajoy government ignored this advice and ploughed ahead with its appeal, with Saenz de Santamaria being reported as ringing up various Constitutional Court members to stress the vital importance of their decision.

According to media reports, the twelve-member court was split seven-five on whether to admit the appeal. To avoid further increasing the Rajoy government’s discomfort with a split ruling the court decided to postpone a decision for ten days—“to decide upon the admissibility of the appeal”—while at the same time spelling out the conditions on which Puigdemont’s investiture could theoretically still go ahead.

The Constitutional Court thus gave the Rajoy government what it wanted while dodging a decision on its legal application: Puigdemont could attend the investiture and end up in jail or stay in Belgium and make any investiture illegal. On January 30, the court rejected a JxCat appeal against its ruling while one of the PP’s most provocative spokespeople, Raphael Hernando, reminded speaker Torrent that “he has two children so knows what he has to deal with.”

The court’s decision, already criticised by numerous Spanish jurists (see here for comment by Barcelona law professor Ferran Requejo), will doubtless be appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, where its violation of the separation of powers and the sovereignty of the Catalan parliament will be laid bare. Not that Rajoy and Saenz de Santamaria care: their game is to force the pro-independence bloc to abandon Puigdemont and cop the humiliation of having Madrid determine who can and can’t be a candidate for president of Catalonia, irrespective of the vote of the Catalan people.

To close any remaining loopholes, on February 1 Spanish attorney-general Rafael Català announced that the Rajoy government would make use of legislation preventing anyone simplyfor “rebellion” from standing for public office.

At the same time, all the voices of Spanish centralism are competing to see who can produce the most “trenchant” characterisation of the man who won most support within the Catalan independence bloc on December 21. Some examples:

Even Elisenda Alemany, spokesperson of the pro-sovereignty Catalonia Together-Podemos group in the Catalan parliament, supports Puigdemont stepping aside (February 6) if this is the price of recovering Catalan self-rule:

Torrent’s decision to suspend the investiture, taken without consultation of the other pro-independence parties and protested by them, shows that Madrid’s approach of permanently intensifying intimidation is starting to have some success.

It has increased tensions between JxCat and an ERC convinced that the most important priority is to recover Catalan self-government, even at the cost of dropping Puigdemont, as ERC MP in the Spanish parliament Joan Tardà suggested in a January 28interview.

On the evening of January 30, Puigdemont issued a video statement in which he said that Torrent’s decision “had to be respected”, but that “democracy cannot be adjourned or suspended”. For their part, the unionist parties and Catalonia Together-Podemos supported the speaker’s decision.

On the day, a large demonstration outside the Catalan parliament, called by the mass pro-independence organisations ANC and Òmnium Cultural and supported by the Committees for the Defence of the Republic (CDR), demanded that the investiture go ahead. At one point, a group of demonstrators, led by some CDRs, broke through police lines in an attempt to get into the parliament building. Inside, the four CUP MPs occupied their places in protest against the suspension of the session.

On January 31, at a public meeting in Louvain, a text message from Puigdemont on the phone of exiled health minister Toni Comín (ERC) was surreptitiously photographed over his shoulder by Spanish channel Tele 5. It read in part:

Puigdemont later tweeted in response to the revelation of this text:

On the same day, the JxCat parliamentary caucus reaffirmed its support for Puigdemont’s candidacy, as did the CUP and ERC. Negotiations, which at the time of writing (February 7) are ongoing, recommenced in search of a formula that would assert the legitimacy of Puigdemont as president while allowing an effective government to form.

The events of January 30 provoked a flurry of reflection and position-taking by all parts of the independence movement.

The day afterwards, the ANC national secretariat called for the unity of the pro-independence majority in support of investing an agreed candidate, affirmed that the ANC would only mobilise outside the Catalan parliament in support of a real investiture, and committed to “returning to the streets if we see that the [Spanish] state or its courts paralyses the investiture.”

Catalan language and culture association Òmnium Cultural called on the pro-independence parties:

Left currents affiliated to the CUP, such as Poble Lliure (“Free People”) and left pro-independence youth organisation Arran, each in their own way saw the suspension of the investiture as marking a watershed in the evolution of the independence movement and its component parts (see live blog for their full statements).

The basic problem weighing on the independence movement is the need to find an agreed strategy for disobedience against a Spanish state that is moving every piece at its disposal—the courts, the media, the monarchy and its loyal backers in the European Commission—to demoralise and tame the Catalan process. This is all the more so because the Spanish government is moving to invalidate the vote of MPs facing charges, killing off the pro-independence majority while simultaneously trying to frighten it with the prospect of another election.

One thing seems certain as the negotiations between the pro-independence parties continue: only persistent, patient and organised resistance by the whole of the pro-independence bloc—determined to assert the sovereignty of the Catalan parliament within the institution itself and in the streets—will ensure that the result of the December 21 election stands. </s> MADRID (AP) — The Latest on the political crisis in Catalonia (all times local):

The speaker of Catalonia's parliament has postponed a session intended to re-elect the Spanish region's fugitive ex-president.

Roger Torrent announced the decision Tuesday, hours before the session he had called to hold a vote authorizing separatist leader Carles Puigdemont to form a government.

The decision comes after Spain's top court had ruled Puigdemont, who faces arrest in Spain, would have to return from Belgium and ask a judge permission to attend the session.

Torrent says he will reconvene the session once Spanish authorities guarantee they "won't interfere" in the election of Puigdemont.

Puigdemont is the focus of an investigation into October's illegal— and unsuccessful— declaration of independence.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is urging the Catalan parliament not to press ahead with the candidacy of fugitive leader Carles Puigdemont for regional president and instead to opt for a lawmaker free of legal proceedings.

Speaking Tuesday on Spanish National Television hours before the parliament is scheduled to hold an investiture vote for Puigdemont, Rajoy said the parliament speaker will face legal consequences if he disobeys a Constitutional Court order saying Puigdemont can only be voted on if he is physically present and has previously obtained court permission.

Puigdemont faces arrest if he returns to Spain.

Rajoy said the "most sensible" thing for the parliament speaker would be to propose a "clean candidate" who is willing to obey the law and work for the return of normality in Catalonia.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> "Roger Torrent is elected the president of the Catalan parliament of the twelfth term," the parliament said in a tweet.

Roger Torrent needs to choose a candidate to try to form a government by the end of the January. Parliament has to elect a new regional government by the end of the month.

Carles Puigdemont would have to get approval from Roger Torrent's committee to vote and be elected from abroad. The former head of Catalonia Carles Puigdemont fled to Belgium with four of his cabinet members.

​READ MORE: Catalonia to Remain Under Madrid's Control Until New Gov't Appointed — Rajoy

The Spanish prosecutor's office accuses Puigdemont in insurgency and embezzlement. The court issued a warrant for his arrest in case he returned to the country. The former leader of Catalonia can try to become the head of the autonomy remotely by video link or with the help of a representative. The Spanish government has assured that it will appeal to the court any violations when assuming the post of head of the autonomy.

Early parliamentary elections were held on December 21, most of the seats in the parliament were received by parties that favored the independence of the region from Spain.

In October, the Spanish government applied 155 article of the Spanish Constitution, which provides a number of restrictions on the autonomy of Catalonia up to early regional elections. On October 27, the Parliament of Catalonia was dissolved. </s> Catalonia's parliament met on Wednesday in a first step towards forming a new government dominated by the question of whether sacked former leader Carles Puigdemont can return as president and continue his push for independence from Spain.

Puigdemont's supporters have suggested the former journalist could rule the wealthy region via video link from self-imposed exile in Brussels, to where he fled in October to avoid arrest for charges including sedition and treason.

The Spanish government had imposed direct rule on the region, whose economy is bigger than that of Portugal, after the previous Catalan administration led by Puigdemont made a unilateral declaration of independence.

However, a regional election in December returned a slim majority to secessionist parties in terms of seats.

In a sign of strength for the parties seeking a split from Spain, Catalan lawmakers on Wednesday elected pro-independence politician Roger Torrent as speaker of the regional parliament.

Torrent was the preferred candidate for speaker of the two main pro-independence parties, Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia) and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (Republican Left of Catalonia).

But the secession movement has also been weakened by the fact that five members of parliament, including Puigdemont, are in Brussels while three are in custody for their role in an illegal independence referendum in October.

Late on Tuesday, the two main pro-independence parties said they would back Puigdemont as presidential candidate. A first vote to choose a new leader is likely to take place on Jan. 31.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has dismissed the possibility that Puigdemont could rule by Skype as absurd and the Catalan parliament's own legal experts have ruled that any president must be physically present in parliament.

However, the ultimate decision lies in the hands of the Catalan parliamentary committee which will be formed on Wednesday. Rajoy has said he will contest in the courts any move to allow Puigdemont to return to power.

The seats of absent lawmakers were marked with giant yellow ribbons on Wednesday. Even if these lawmakers are unable to vote, the pro-independence parties will still have more weight in parliament than those favouring unity with Spain.

Pro-independence supporters gathered outside the parliament on Wednesday waving red and yellow Catalan flags.

"I know that we are going to have a lot of problems with the Spanish government but we are going to do it," said demonstrator Dolors Esplugas. "On January 31, Carles Puigdemont is going to be appointed."

Uncertainty over the region's future has led to thousands of companies, including two of the country's top banks, moving their headquarters from Catalonia to elsewhere in Spain.

The independence drive has also increased tension between Madrid and Barcelona, divided people the region, and caused resentment in much of the rest of Spain. </s> Spain's parliament on Friday suspended four Catalan politicians currently on trial at the Supreme Court for their alleged participation separatist referendum back in 2017 from taking their seats in the national parliament.

The speaker of the country's lower chamber, the Congress of Deputies, Socialist Party (PSOE) member Meritxell Batet, told reporters the decision had been made by the speaker's committee following consultations with Parliament and the Supreme Court.

Batet acknowledged that parliament was faced with an "unprecedented" situation and that the committee had acted to safeguard legislative power and guarantee the rights of parliamentarians.

"The speaker's committee of the Congress of Deputies has agreed to automatically suspend from their positions and therefore their rights and duties established in the rules of the chamber the right honorable members Mr. Oriol Junqueras i Vies, Mr. Josep Rull i Andreu, Mr. Jordi Sánchez i Picanyol and Mr. Jordi Turull i Negre," Batet said.

Junqueras, the former regional vice president of Catalonia, who is facing hefty charges of rebellion and sedition, was in the general elections of Apr. 28 elected to represent the party he leads, the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), while Rull, Sánchez and Turull, were voted into the Madrid-based national parliament as MPs for Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia, JxCat).

On Tuesday, all four were briefly released from preventative prison in Madrid to take their seats in Parliament in what turned out to be a controversial session peppered with protests from mainstream parties opposed to the decision to include the detainees.

JxCat, the party of self-exiled former Catalan regional president Carles Puigdemont, also welcomed a new senator, Raül Romeva.

As well as handling the suspension of the Catalan lawmakers, the committee had to analyze what effects removing four MPs from the 350-seat chamber would have on the absolute majority threshold.

Of the nine members of the speaker's committee charged with making a decision on the four Catalan separatist MPs, only two members of the left-wing Unidas Podemos (United We Can, in English) asked for more time.

"We made our disagreement clear, accepting the decision the committee took on a majority basis," Irene Montero, the party's parliamentary spokesperson, told the press.

The conservative Popular Party and Ciudadanos (Citizens, in English) welcomed the decision but lamented the fact the lawmakers had been allowed to take their oaths in the first place.

Ana Pastor, a former speaker who is now a member of the committee for the PP, said 48 hours had been wasted.

JxCat said it would petition for the decision to be re-evaluated.

The lawmakers in question are among the 12 Catalan separatists leaders currently on trial for charges ranging from rebellion and sedition to misuse of public funds related to their alleged activities promoting and facilitating an illegal independence referendum in Catalonia and unilaterally declaring independence back in October 2017.

The Catalan crisis, which had been simmering for years, exploded in 2017 with the events that led up to the Oct. 1 referendum on the prosperous region's secession from the rest of the country, which was deemed unconstitutional by the judiciary.

As a consequence of the disputed vote and the regional government's subsequent unilateral declaration of independence, Madrid triggered a constitutional article that stripped the devolved region from its autonomy, deposed then-Catalan President Puigdemont and called new regional elections.EFE-EPA </s> Speaker says ex-president is only candidate to form government despite Spanish state’s warnings

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The speaker of the Catalan parliament has postponed a session to invest Carles Puigdemont as president but insisted the deposed former leader remains the only legitimate candidate to form a government after pro-independence parties retained their majority in December’s snap elections.

Despite blunt warnings from the Spanish government that it will not allow Puigdemont to return to office after he fled to Belgium following last October’s unilateral declaration of independence, Roger Torrent said the investiture of a new president was a matter for the regional parliament alone.

“We don’t accept anyone telling us that the Catalans have voted incorrectly because we didn’t do what they wanted,” the pro-independence speaker said on Tuesday morning, hours before regional MPs were due to choose a president.



“Neither the [Spanish government] nor the constitutional court decides who will be president; that’s for the democratically elected members of parliament to decide.”

The defiant stance came three days after Spain’s constitutional court ruled that Puigdemont, who remains in self-imposed exile in Brussels, could not take part in an investiture debate via video conference or by getting one of his MPs to read a speech in his place.

The court’s judges said the session would be suspended unless Puigdemont attended parliament with prior judicial authorisation and rejected appeals from Puigdemont’s party.

Torrent said: “I am not proposing any other candidate apart from Puigdemont.”



Announcing that he was adjourning the session, he said: “It will be held when we can hold an effective investiture, without interference and with guarantees.”



The speaker said he would personally guarantee Puigdemont’s immunity and that of other MPs. “I will do whatever it takes to defend democracy because it cannot be suspended,” he said.

“The will of the Catalan people expressed at the ballot box is a mandate and this mandate cannot be suspended. Parliament represents the will of all the Catalan people and for this reason, it and the Catalan people deserve respect.”

Thousands of pro-independence protesters gathered outside the parliament building on Tuesday afternoon to show their support for Puigdemont.

Shortly before Torrent’s address, Spain’s prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, said any attempt to invest Puigdemont remotely would constitute a clear violation of the constitutional court’s ruling. He urged Catalan MPs to obey the law and choose another candidate.

“The speaker and those who support him need to be very aware of the consequences they could face,” Rajoy said in an interview with the state broadcaster.

Referring to Puigdemont, who faces arrest on possible charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds the moment he sets foot in Spain, Rajoy continued: “You can’t be a fugitive from justice, live in Brussels and try to get yourself elected president of a democratic institution … The most prudent thing would be for the speaker of the parliament to put forward a clean candidate.”

On Sunday, one pro-independence MP suggested the ousted president could step aside to allow someone else to take office.

Joan Tardà of the Catalan Republican Left party told the newspaper La Vanguardia: “What’s essential is that we have a government. If we have to sacrifice President Puigdemont, we’ll have to sacrifice him.”

Puigdemont has been in Brussels since the Spanish government responded to the unilateral independence declaration by sacking his administration, taking direct control of of Catalonia and calling an election. </s> Five Catalan political leaders who are on trial for rebellion are scheduled to attend the Spanish parliament on Tuesday for the inauguration of the new legislature, amid uncertainty over whether they will be allowed to take part in parliamentary activity.

Oriol Junqueras, Josep Rull, Jordi Turull and Jordi Sànchez won seats in Congress in last month’s general election, despite being in jail and on trial in the supreme court. Fellow pro-independence politician Raül Romeva, who is also behind bars and on trial, was elected to the Senate. All five are due to be escorted from the prison where they are being held in Madrid to attend parliament’s opening session.

On Monday, the trial was suspended as the five men picked up their parliamentary credentials from the upper and lower houses. Their trial is due to resume on Wednesday.

“Today we have been able to leave Soto del Real prison thanks to your votes so that we can collect our credentials,” Mr Junqueras, former vice-president of Catalonia and currently leader of the Catalan Republic Left (ERC), said in a brief video posted on Twitter. “Your votes have freed us.”

Mr Romeva also represents ERC, while Messrs Rull, Turull and Sànchez won seats for Together for Catalonia (JxCat). None of them was allowed to address the media or meet privately with colleagues during their visit, which was closely controlled by police.

JxCat spokeswoman Laura Borràs described the restrictions on the jailed parliamentarians as “scandalous”.

All five are facing charges of violent rebellion and sedition for their alleged roles in Catalonia’s failed bid for independence in 2017, and could face lengthy jail sentences if found guilty. The trial began in February and is expected to end next month, although a verdict is unlikely before the summer.

Macarena Olona, a newly elected member of Congress for the far-right Vox party, which is one of the plaintiffs in the supreme court trial, decried the fact that the jailed Catalan leaders had been allowed to appear in parliament. She described their visit as “a failure of the rule of law that means five criminals have managed to get into public institutions in order to destroy Spain”.

ERC made gains in last month’s election, securing 15 seats in Congress and it could potentially be key in allowing the Socialists of prime minister Pedro Sánchez to form a new government after they emerged as winners but fell short of a majority.

However, although the jailed politicians are allowed to attend today’s session, the ability of the four members of Congress to take part in parliamentary business appears to be in the hands of the lower house’s presiding council.

Both the conservative Popular Party (PP) and the Ciudadanos party have called for the presiding council to prevent the four from being able to take up their seats. If that were to happen and the suspended politicians did not delegate their seats, the change in parliamentary arithmetic could make the securing of a majority marginally easier.
The Parliament of Catalonia opens the new legislature. Roger Torrent (ERC) is named Speaker. Three parliamentarians in jail vote through proxies, the five parlementarians in exile in Belgium do not. Carles Puigdemont (PDeCAT, JuntsxCat), through his spokesman, considers it "perfectly plausible" for him to be president remotely. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy says that he will not restore Catalonia's autonomous powers if the regional parliament permits Puigdemont to lead the government from exile.