Spain's Supreme Court has withdrawn the arrest warrant against Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont, clearing the way for him to return home after almost nine years in exile without being detained. The move followed a ruling by the Constitutional Court, which decided that the 2024 amnesty law must be applied to Catalan separatists even in cases involving the alleged misuse of public funds. Spanish media had noted that the Supreme Court still had to apply that ruling to Puigdemont's own case, and the withdrawal of the warrant is the result.
Puigdemont was head of the Catalan regional government in 2017, when Catalonia, a region in north-eastern Spain with its own language and a long-standing autonomy movement, held a referendum on independence that Spanish courts ruled illegal. The regional parliament then declared independence unilaterally. Madrid intervened, and Puigdemont fled to Belgium, later becoming a member of the European Parliament in 2019. Nine of his former colleagues who stayed in Spain were sentenced to up to 13 years in prison; all were released within three years, and most were later pardoned by the government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
Spain issued several national and European arrest warrants for Puigdemont. He was detained briefly in Germany in 2018 and in Sardinia in 2021, but was never extradited. Two years ago, now aged 63, he made a brief, surprise appearance in Barcelona to give a speech and slipped out of Spain again despite a large police operation. The sticking point for his amnesty had been the embezzlement charge, which the Supreme Court initially held was not covered by the law. The Constitutional Court's decision removed that obstacle.
The timing is politically sensitive. Spain heads to early elections on 29 November, and Puigdemont's party, Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia), is currently polling low, according to Dutch broadcaster NOS.
The Catalonia he returns to is very different from the one he left, as analysis in The Guardian points out. Since 2024 the region has been governed by the Socialists' Catalan branch under Salvador Illa, the first non-nationalist government since 1980, and relations with Madrid have shifted from confrontation to cooperation. Younger Catalans are more concerned with jobs and housing than sovereignty; 82% of 18- to 30-year-olds still live with their parents. The foreign-born share of the population has risen from 13.8% to 18.7%. Support for independence, which never reached 50%, now hovers in the low 40s. Meanwhile, the far-right nationalist Aliança Catalana has pulled the political debate to the right.
Whether Puigdemont returns as a galvanising figure or a leader whose moment has passed remains an open question. His return nonetheless closes a major chapter in the legal fallout of the 2017 crisis.