Non-Secessionist Solution to Catalan Crisis Possible

Catalonia’s deposed president said he might consider a solution to Spain’s political crisis that did not involve the region’s secession, appearing to soften the staunchly pro-independence stance that cost him his leadership last month. In an interview with Belgian daily Le Soir, Carles Puigdemont was asked if a non-secessionist option was on the table to resolve a crisis triggered when Spain took over control of the region after its parliament declared independence on Oct. 27, Reuters reported. “I‘m ready, and have always been ready, to accept the reality of another relationship with Spain ... It (another solution) is still possible,” Puigdemont said. “I have, being pro-independence all my life, worked for 30 years to have another way of Catalonia being anchored to Spain,” he added, giving no details of what form such a relationship could take. The former president is in self-imposed exile in Belgium after running an independence campaign that prompted authorities in Madrid to fire his cabinet, dissolve the regional parliament and call new elections for December.