BRUSSELS – The prime ministers of Spain and Belgium have held talks over their testy bilateral relations as ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont and four secessionist allies prepared for an extradition court appearance in Brussels.
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Friday’s court hearing for the five is the latest step in their flight from Spain and refusal to return from Brussels to face a rebellion investigation amid a push for Catalan independence.
The Belgian government has steadfastly said it can’t intervene in Spain’s extradition request since it’s up to the independent judiciary to make a decision. Friday’s court decision can still be appealed.
“It is a judicial case based on the separation of powers. It is up to the judicial authorities,” Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said after meeting with his Spanish counterpart Mariano Rajoy on the sidelines of the European Union summit in Goteborg, Sweden.
Michel’s spokesman, Barend Leyts, said the talks were “constructive” and didn’t center on the Catalan issue itself. Instead the two leaders discussed the deepening of the European Union’s monetary union and the upcoming relocation of EU agencies from Britain to the continent, among other issues.
Even if the EU nations almost invariably have backed the position of Madrid in its standoff with Catalonia, Belgium was among the first to criticize the use of violence by Spanish police during the Oct. 1 referendum. Spain says the police response was proportionate.
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The Flemish nationalist N-VA is the biggest partner in Michel’s coalition government and has been in pointed exchanges with Rajoy’s Popular Party about the Catalan issue and the links of both parties to an authoritarian past.
