Spain dubious on Catalan leader's asylum chances

Spain's foreign and justice ministers today poured cold water on the viability of a potential asylum bid by Catalonia's deposed separatist leader, who is in Belgium seeking legal advice.
"It would be surprising if he were granted asylum in the current circumstances," Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis told the Cadena Ser radio station.
It is as yet unclear what Carles Puigdemont, axed as Catalan president on Friday after the region's parliament declared independence, is doing in Belgium but he has consulted at least one lawyer who has worked on asylum cases.
According to various Spanish media, he is considering applying for asylum, or at the very least staying in Belgium to wait for Spain to file an extradition request.

He is due to speak at 1130 GMT in Brussels.
News of his trip to Belgium comes as Spain's chief prosecutor demanded he and other former Catalan leaders be charged with rebellion, punishable by up to 30 years in jail, and sedition.

A court now has to decide whether to bring charges.
Dastis underscored that Puigdemont had not been charged yet and was therefore still "free to move around."
But he was dubious on a potential asylum bid.
"We believe that among EU member states, there is a level of reciprocal trust over the fact that we are states governed by the rule of law," he said.

Justice Minister Rafael Catala, meanwhile, said that all EU states had "democratic systems."
"He has no arguments."
The lawyer Puigdemont contacted in Belgium, Paul Bekaert, has in the past worked on asylum cases involving Spaniards in the Basque Country, once hit by decades of violence waged by armed separatist group ETA.
Bekaert told Flemish television VRT yesterday that Puigdemont had appointed him as his lawyer, adding however that on the issue of asylum, "nothing has yet been decided."
Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas, Puigdemont's lawyer in Catalonia, did not confirm to AFP what his intentions were.