The fate of Catalonia’s ousted leader remains unclear but Belgium’s ruled out his immediate extradition to Spain.

Madrid has issued a European arrest warrant for Carles Puigdemont however Brussels has made it clear the matter must be decided by its courts and not its executive.

Belgian authorities have also released a statement saying they don’t consider Puigdemont to be a flight risk so they are not in a hurry to talk to him, adding it could be Sunday or Monday.

For his part, Puigdemont has taken to Twitter to call for a united political front in December’s snap election to continue the drive for independence.

Puigdemont repeated that he is willing to cooperate with Belgian authorities over the arrest warrant.



We zijn bereid tot volledige medewerking met Belgische justitie nav het Europees aanhoudingsbevel uitgevaardigd door Spanje — Carles Puigdemont ? (@KRLS) November 4, 2017

He’s also called for more protests against the jailing of eight former members of his regional government, words warmly welcomed by some on the streets of Barcelona.

“To pick someone up and arrest them is not politics. Politics is talking, discussing, to arrest someone seems to me a little bit like the action of a fascist government. It’s something that doesn’t make any sense these days in Europe, we all need to talk and discuss, that’s why we live in a democracy,” said Barcelona local Cristiano Gonzalez.

Some crucial talks are likely to take place this weekend as political parties that wish to run on a common platform have until Tuesday to register any potential coalition.