State moderates reaction

While the social networks around Spain were filled with tasteless jokes and demeaning comments regarding the arrest of Carles Puigdemont, or “the hunt” as one media source had it, most politicians exercised moderation and contention while celebrating the news. The Rajoy government made no statement, but the PP made its opinion clear through the words of Fernando Martínez-Maillo who said that Puigdemont “could not remain a fugitive forever” and that anyone who thought they could “move around Europe with impunity, should understand that there is a a common legal framework in all European countries.” Maillo added that as a “fugitive from justice,” Carles Puigdemont must answer “always within the rule of law and respect for justice.”

One who did show his satisfaction was Albert Rivera who wrote on the networks: “ Puigdemont’s flight is over. He cannot expect impunity for trying to destroy European democracy, skirting the law, destroying coexistence or embezzling public money.”

The General Secretaryof the PSOE Pedro Sánchez did not distance himself from the right-wing parties, but merely repeated that “No one is above the law,” and demanded “respect for judicial decisions and support for the security forces.”

With a more moderate tone , but avoiding becoming too involved, Podem’s Pablo Iglesia said: “The political crisis in Catalonia cannot be solved with arrests and prison nor using courts to make political decisions,” stressing that “the arrest and imprisonment does not help the relationship between Catalonia and Spain as the question is political.”