That the election campaign in Catalan politics is now in full swing is clear. Just as it is that, however many desperate attempts some might make to present this campaign as normal, it is nothing of the sort. Not at all. But how do you understand that El Nacional has had to travel to Brussels to interview the president of Catalonia in exile? Because he's in exile, no? How else should you call the state of the Catalan president who has been deprived of his role not by the Catalan Parliament, nor by the Catalan people, but by the Spanish government?
The Electoral Commission can force the public media to not consider the president as being in exile and ban them for using the expression, but it's a fool's errand. Josep Tarradellas was president in exile during the Franco regime and Puigdemont is now. Let's say that the Catalan campaign is being played between Barcelona and Brussels with one eye always on the prisons of Estremera, Alcalá Meco and Soto del Real where the imprisoned ministers and the 'Jordis', Sànchez and Cuixart, are being held.
Puigdemont is strong and spirited. He expresses himself forcefully and clearly. Direct in his answers. Very angry with the lies being published which he attributes to the large media groups of here and there and to the Spanish state through different actors from king Felipe VI to the government's delegate to Catalonia, Enric Millo. He doesn't accept that this election is considered normal. He doesn't give the game up for lost and has faith in the response from the people on 21st December. The election which has to restore at the ballot box the legitimate government of Catalonia. He shows himself open to dialogue and negotiation, as always.
But, warning, he doesn't renounce the unilateral path nor the 1st October independence referendum, which he believes to be fully valid, nor the approval of the Republic by the Parliament of Catalonia. Its legitimacy is also up for vote on 21st December and he calls on the public to knock down article 155 (the 155 side, he says), and say no to something he considers a literal coup d'état. An intense interview worthy of being read. And saved.