Carles Puigdemont allowed to present himself to the European

Small "victory" for Carles Puigdemont: exiled in Belgium, the former Catalan independence president was authorized Monday by the Spanish justice to run for the European elections in Spain, despite the lawsuits against him in this country.

Canceling a decision in late April of the Spanish Electoral Commission, a Madrid court ruled that Mr. Puigdemont and two other members of his former regional government, who had left Spain after Spain's failed secession attempt October 2017, could stand in the elections of May 26.

All three are the subject of an arrest warrant in Spain for their role in this attempt at secession, at the center of a major trial in Madrid in which are judged 12 ex-independence leaders.

Seized by the anti-separatist parties Ciudadanos (liberals) and the Popular Party (conservatives), the electoral commission had refused the candidacy of Carles Puigdemont, Clara Ponsati and Toni Comin on the independentist list "Lliures per Europa" ("Free for Europe" "in Catalan), believing that they could not be considered as residents in Spain.........