At the point we have now reached, no one can doubt that acting Catalan president Carles Puigdemont has a mastery of the media scene that few can match and a great ability to change the narrative and avoid clearly difficult situations. Those who criticise him gratuitously would be best advised to look back at the Catalan election results from 21st December and consider that he was able to improvise a candidacy in just a few weeks, put himself at the head of it when a few months before he wasn't even planning to stand, and emerge as the essential figure of this new political era in Catalonia. It's clear that it will be very difficult for him to become the president who heads the Catalan government for the next four years. But this coming Monday, the new speaker of the Catalan Parliament will inform the public that the majority of the House has proposed his candidacy and, consequently, will ask him to stand for president at the investiture session. A step that Madrid has tried to prevent under any circumstances, without success.
The Spanish state will have to be diligent to block it during the parliamentary process that is about to begin: either at the beginning, in the middle or at the end. Among other aspects, because the Catalan parliament's board will end up validating his participation in the investiture session, whether it is carried out by means of a proxy figure, using digital technologies, or by means of a third formula that it may be studying. When Roger Torrent announces Puigdemont's candidature, the acting president will not be in Brussels, the city which he has made his refuge since the entry into force of article 155 and the entry into prison of the Catalan government ordered by Spanish justice. The president will leave Belgium for a few hours to travel to Copenhagen where he will give a lecture at the university and will hold a meeting at the Folketing, Denmark's unicameral parliament.
Puigdemont's move is very calculated: after Spain had to retire the European Arrest Warrant presented to Belgium given its fear of international failure, it does not seem that it will instigate a new one in Denmark now, since it would risk a similar result. The Catalan president wants to gauge the reaction of the state, which is implacable in Spain, but timid in Europe. At the same time, he will establish a kind of European security corridor between Belgium and Denmark, offering him a mobility on the continent that he has lacked so far; he can defend the Catalan cause to the world and meet with the Danish MPs who have played a role of international support to Catalonia in recent months, even sending a letter to the Spanish government imploring it to negotiate.
One last point: Puigdemont is today a player in international politics who alternates between the insults from the media in Madrid and the expectations that his movements arouse at the level of the international media. This was seen on Friday when he announced his willingness to preside over Catalonia from Belgium as well as his upcoming trip to Copenhagen. The reaction was immediate. It is not surprising that Madrid despairs over a politician who is able to set in action different scenarios continually and to open up issues and raise problems when they least expect it. And while some are sent into states of irritation or even indignation, Puigdemont sets a course for the Parliament of Denmark. Wow!