Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

INDEPENDENCE

What next for deposed Catalan leader Puigdemont?

Now he is rid of a Spanish international arrest warrant, Catalonia's deposed president Carles Puigdemont can go anywhere he pleases save Spain, and continue playing a central role in his region's separatist politics from afar.

Published: 23 July 2018 10:36 CEST
What next for deposed Catalan leader Puigdemont?
Photo: AFP

So what's next?

Return to Belgium

Sacked as Catalan president after a failed secession bid on October 27, Puigdemont fled to Brussels several days later as did several members of his executive who had also been deposed.

There, he settled in Waterloo before being arrested in Germany at the end of March on his return from a trip to Finland.   

Puigdemont was freed on bail around 10 days later and set about waiting for a German court decision on an extradition request by Spain, where he is wanted over his role in the independence drive.

But on Thursday, Spain's Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena, in charge of the case against separatist leaders, dropped the international arrest warrant.   

That means Puigdemont, who is currently living in Hamburg, will return to Waterloo, said Gonzalo Boye, one of his lawyers.   

From there, he will be able to travel where he wants, save Spain where he is still wanted for rebellion, which carries up to 25 years in jail, and misuse of public funds.

In theory, Puigdemont could remain in self-exile for 20 years, which in Spain's legal system is the time limit after which the rebellion charge is no longer valid.

Puigdemont is “aware this could last many years in the worst-case scenario,” said Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas, another of his lawyers.

High profile

Since he left at the end of October, Puigdemont has maintained a prime position in Catalan politics.

He led the list for his Together for Catalonia grouping in December regional elections which separatist parties won.   

He was however unable to make a comeback as Catalan president and rule from abroad after the Constitutional Court ruled against it, and nominated Quim Torra as his successor.

Once back in Belgium, Puigdemont, whom Torra considers the “legitimate” Catalan president, will put in place a “republican council” from which he intends to lead the separatist camp from afar.

Why did judge drop warrant?

In his court ruling, Llarena said he had taken the decision after a German court agreed to extradite Puigdemont earlier this month for misuse of public funds and not rebellion.

READ MORE: Spain drops international arrest warrant for Puigdemont

“He did it to avoid other setbacks,” says Xavier Arbos, constitutional law professor at the University of Barcelona.   

Already in December, Llarena had withdrawn international arrest warrants against Puigdemont and other former members of Catalonia's separatist executive, arguing Belgium could potentially reject some of the charges in the warrant.

He re-activated them in March, when Puigdemont travelled to Finland and then Germany.

But as he had anticipated, a Belgian court in May refused to extradite three of his former regional ministers who had remained in Belgium.   And then in another setback, the German court said it would only extradite  Puigdemont for misuse of public funds.   

Analysing the decision, Spanish media said accepting that Puigdemont be returned to Spain on just that charge would have weakened his entire case against other separatist leaders who are in custody in Spain and also accused of rebellion.

The El Pais daily argued it would have been difficult for the judge to put Puigdemont in preventative custody just for that charge, creating an imbalance with the others who are in jail.

As such, Puigdemont could even potentially have made a comeback as Catalan president.

But this may not be the end of arrest warrants.   

According to Catalonia's La Vanguardia daily, Puigdemont's lawyers are expecting Spanish courts to re-activate international arrest warrants if those separatist leaders in custody in Spain are convicted of rebellion in a trial expected in October.

By AFP's Mathieu Gorse and Alvaro Villalobos 

BEACHES

Why are Barcelona’s beaches disappearing?

Barcelona's much-loved beaches are losing between six and 10 metres of sand per year, but why is this happening?

Published: 16 June 2021 15:30 CEST
Why are Barcelona's beaches disappearing?
Barceloneta Beach. Photo: Pau BARRENA / AFP

Barcelona may be famed for its beaches and they may be one of its biggest tourist draws, but it hasn’t always been this way.

In fact, Barcelona didn’t used to have any beaches at all, just ports and seaside neighbourhoods. It wasn’t until 1992 when the city held the Olympic Games that these neighbourhoods were demolished and the beaches were created. 

What’s the problem?

Since 2017, the city’s beaches have been losing between six and 10 metres of width per year, according to a recent study by the Área Metropolitana de Barcelona (AMB).

This beach erosion means that every year there is less and less sand for residents and tourists to lie on and enjoy. 

This is not a new problem however and has been going on much longer than four and half years. In 2016, the Barcelona City Council revealed that since 2010 Barceloneta Beach had lost over 15 metres in width, which is equivalent to 28 percent of its surface area.  

In another 2016 report, the regional authorities of Barcelona also showed that its beaches as a whole had lost 17 percent of their total amount of sand during the same time period, the same as five football pitches.

Why is it happening?

The study attributes this to the fact that there have been more storms than normal since 2017, which has prevented the natural recovery of the beaches.

Storm Gloria in January 2020 in particular caused significant damage to the beaches in the area and caused even more sand to be washed away.

In short, most of this is to do with climate change. 

The beaches that have been most affected and have lost the most amount of sand are those in the lower Maresme region and the towns of Masnou and Badalona.

Barcelona beaches being destroyed during a storm. Photo: JOSEP LAGO / AFP

What’s being done about it?

The Barcelona City Council has been continually adding a little sand to its beaches each year and moving it around from areas that have more to areas that have less.

Aitor Rumín, head of the beach management service of the Barcelona Consistory told El Pais last month that “the last major contribution of sand was made by the ministry in 2010. Since then we have only lost sand”.

“It’s survival, but we can’t do much more. The beaches lose 30 cubic meters of sand per year, especially in the southern parts of each of the beaches. The coastline is receding and we have beaches like Mar Bella, Nova Mar Bella and Llevant, where we can’t do anything to regain the sand,” he said.

Badalona Beach. Photo: JOSEP LAGO / AFP

While moving the sand around and adding a little each year may help to cover up the problem in the short term, it’s not really helping solve the problem and a long-term solution needs to be found.

The Área Metropolitana de Barcelona have been trying to stop the beach erosion with their Resilience Plan, which will ask for greater contributions of sand to try and balance out the current losses and divide the beaches up with breakwaters.

In the case of Badalona, it has been proposed that 13,200 cubic metres of sand be added to the beach each year, as well as to rethink the layout of the equipment located on the seafront. The construction of a breakwater on La Mora beach has also been proposed.

In Sant Adrià, the plan is to build another breakwater, as well as to remove the jetty in front of the old industrial areas. The council also hope to add a further 95,000 cubic metres of sand.

It is thought that similar plans may be carried out on Barcelona’s other beaches.

Is this a problem anywhere else in Spain?

Yes, beach erosion is a problem throughout Spain, as well as throughout the world, due to climate change.

Theocharis Plomaritis from the University of Cádiz who was one of the co-authors of the Nature Climate Change study published in March 2020, told El Periodico that by the end of the century the retreat of the beaches in Spain and Southern Europe could be 86 metres, if no measures are taken to contain climate change. 

According to the study, in the best case scenario – with measures to mitigate the effects of climate – the loss of sandy beaches in Spain would be 60 metres and 27 of these metres by 2050.

SHOW COMMENTS