The fate of Catalonia’s ousted leader remains unclear but Belgium’s ruled out his immediate extradition to Spain.<br /><br />Madrid has issued a European arrest warrant for Carles Puigdemont however Brussels has made it clear the matter must be decided by its courts and not its executive. <br /><br />Belgian authorities have also released a statement saying they don’t consider Puigdemont to be a flight risk so they are not in a hurry to talk to him, adding it could be Sunday or Monday. <br /><br />For his part, Puigdemont has taken to Twitter to call for a united political front in December’s snap election to continue the drive for independence. <br /><br />Puigdemont repeated that he is willing to cooperate with Belgian authorities over the arrest warrant.<br />We zijn bereid tot volledige medewerking met Belgische justitie nav het Europees aanhoudingsbevel uitgevaardigd door Spanje— Carles Puigdemont (@KRLS) November 4, 2017<br /><br /><br />He’s also called for more protests against the jailing of eight former members of his regional government, words warmly welcomed by some on the streets of Barcelona.<br /><br />“To pick someone up and arrest them is not politics. Politics is talking, discussing, to arrest someone seems to me a little bit like the action of a fascist government. It’s something that doesn’t make any sense these days in Europe, we all need to talk and discuss, that’s why we live in a democracy,” said Barcelona local Cristiano Gonzalez.<br /><br />Some crucial talks are likely to take place this weekend as political parties that wish to run on a common platform have until Tuesday to register any potential coalition.<br /><br />És el moment que tots els demòcrates s’uneixin. Per Catalunya, per la llibertat dels #presospolitics i la República https://t.co/W4WDeUIB43 pic.twitter.com/FwbnA2wMQE— Carles Puigdemont (@KRLS) November 4, 2017<br />
