Catalan leader and former president Carles Puigdemont stated in a recent interview published on X that the Spanish government should not fund Catalan self-government at the expense of the Catalans themselves.
We are paying taxes beyond our means. This idea of going to find the money we need for self-government in the pockets of Catalans is a wrong idea. Catalans do not have to pay for the failure of the Spanish State with Catalonia.
In his latest speech, Puigdemont urged Catalans not to vote for candidates favourable to Spain, as victory in the Catalan issue “will depend on the revolted mobilisation.”
“What does Spain want? Spain wants you to stay at home, to vote for whoever will never say no to them. Do you want to help Spain or do you want to help Catalonia? Our victory will depend on the revolted mobilisation.”
He also described Spain as a rich region despite the fact that some of its population suffered from poverty.
We are a rich region of Europe but we are a region of impoverished citizens. And this is unacceptable.
Previously, Puigdemont called for Catalonia to need “an ambitious and solvent government to restore national ambition and draw the architecture of the future Catalonia.”
Puigdemont was forced to leave for Belgium in 2017 after his attempt to secure Catalonia’s independence failed when Spain’s government sent police to quash a referendum. Courts annulled the referendum and prosecuted its leaders for “sedition and misuse of public funds.”
