"We'll never forgive him". That's not my comment, it came from someone, important in Madrid, still baffled and overwhelmed by president Carles Puigdemont's daring in making the Spanish state backtrack for a second time on its wish to arrest him abroad and extradite him to Spain. Because what happened this Monday in Copenhagen summarises many things in one and is nothing other than a resounding failure by the Spanish government, cocky in its threats throughout the weekend but, in the end, rendered impotent by events.
It's worth winding back 36 hours to Sunday morning. Spain's Public Prosecutor releases a statement warning Puigdemont that once it's confirmed he has left Brussels and arrived in Copenhagen they will request the Supreme Court to issue a European Arrest Warrant for him. It's clear that prosecutors aim to have him stuck Belgium, a lesser evil after the first European Warrant was withdrawn on 5th December once it was realised that the Supreme Court was going to lose the match. It's also clear that Puigdemont isn't fighting back against this situation of a certain limit on his movements and that he wants to involve other European countries via the justice system. So, when the opportunity arises for him to travel to Denmark, he accepts it and the prosecution responds with a threat of an arrest warrant, thinking that Puigdemont will then not go. For sure he will have had doubts in the last few hours beforehand, but the president trusts his instinct and heads to the Danish capital.
Astonishment in Madrid, irritation in the Moncloa government palace, bafflement in Barcelona, anger in the press which reaches newspaper kiosks and radio and TV debates (by the way, some day I'll have to come back to the memorable film which opened in Spain this weekend, The Post, and not just for the extraordinary performance by Meryl Streep in the role of Katharine Graham, the first female publisher of the Washington Post, but also for the quote which the film ends on: "the press was to serve the governed, not the governors"). And, finally, the collapse of the house of cards which the threat against Puigdemont was based on. It started with Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena who didn't accept the prosecutors' request and, in a seven-page order, says that he won't issue the order because the accused is looking to be arrested. And that, in any case, he'll issue one at some other time when the constitutional order and normal parliamentary functioning (presumably to make the investiture of a president easier) cannot be affected. Actually, it's doesn't seem all that far from being a more political than legal decision, contrary to the hypothesis the Spanish state has been defending.
In any case, one, given what has happened in Belgium and Denmark, cannot avoid asking whether Spain is a state where the rule of law is comparable to other countries of the EU. It's not that Brussels is an exception for baseless charges like that of rebellion, Copenhagen has been a second example and Puigdemont's international agenda has new stops. How long will Spain be able to maintain this anomaly for? Why don't they tell the public the truth?
The president, candidate for reelection, has won an important battle which has left the Spanish justice system weakened in Europe. It would be reasonable to immediately order provisional release for Oriol Junqueras, Joaquim Forn, Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixart given what we've just seen in Denmark. It would be fair.