Steffen Seibert, spokesperson for German chancellor Angela Merkel, made it clear in a press conference on Monday at midday that questions about the quality of Spanish justice were unlikely to stop the extradition of detained Catalan president Carles Puigdemont from moving forward normally: "It is our conviction and our daily experience that Spain is a country where the rule of law exists", he said.
The German leader's spokesperson stressed that Sunday's detention of Puigdemont by the German police will not interfere in the bilateral relationship that Angela Merkel's executive maintains with Spain and stated that the case has to be resolved "on the basis of Spanish law".
Seibert once again voiced the view that the Catalan case is an internal matter that has to be addressed within the framework of Spanish justice. "Spain is a democratic state. This conflict has to be resolved on the basis of Spanish law", he asserted, reiterating the German government's support to the posture adopted by the executive of Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy.
The German interior ministry has avoided making any comment on why other countries that Puigdemont passed through after leaving Finland, such as Denmark, did not move to arrest him in compliance with the European arrest warrant activated last Friday by Spanish justice.
Puigdemont was intercepted by police on Sunday morning in a service area beside the A7 highway after entering Germany via its northern border with Denmark, in an action in response to the European warrant activated by Spain. German justice will now have to decide if it keeps him in prison.
German Christian Democrat MEP Elmar Brok made a statement along similar lines. The member of the Brussels parliament considers it important for Carles Puigdemont to respond to justice in Spain, he told the regional newspaper Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung on Monday. "Puigdemont has clearly broken Spanish law and has breached the constitution".