Next stop, Finland
Puigdemont will go from Switzerland to the Scandinavian country on Thursday as he continues his efforts to focus international attention on the Catalan conflict
Carles Puigdemont will continue travelling Europe focusing international attention on the Catalan conflict. On Thursday, the deposed Catalan president will go to Finland, having spent some days in Switzerland attending human rights events. Puigdemont’s activities, which included attending a debate on Monday in Geneva, called Regression of Human Rights in Spain, have not been welcomed by the Spanish government. In fact, the foreign minister, Alfonso Dastis, admitted yesterday that the trips had caused “a certain discomfort” in Madrid.
Puigdemont’s visit to Finland will go from Thursday to Saturday. On the first day he will meet MPs and report on the situation in Catalonia. The next day he will take part in a conference in Helsinki University and meet the members of the NUPS political think tank, which is headed by former foreign minister, Pär Stenbäck. The visit ends on Saturday with Puigdemont meeting members of civil society.
One of Puigdemont’s hosts is Mikko Kärnä, an MP from the Centre Party, who has supported the Catalan cause for months. Kärnä points out that Puigdemont is visiting Finland as an EU citizen and that his trip has nothing to do with the Finnish government. Puigdemont will visit the parliament at the invitation of a Catalan expat association.
The Finland trip is the president’s third visit abroad since he went into exile in Belgium. Puigdemont first left Brussels in January, to go to Denmark, which caused a media stir over the possibility of the international arrest warrant against him being reactivated. In the end the judge decided not to do so, arguing that Puigdemont was looking to be arrested.
The next visit was to Switzerland, which lasts until tomorrow.