Borrell outrages the independence movement by comparing Puigdemont with Zelenski

The High Representative for Foreign Policy of the European Union (EU), Josep Borrell, has outraged the independence movement by praising the courage of the President of Ukraine, Volodímir Zelenski, of whom he has said that “he is not the type of leader who runs away hidden in a car”. The socialist was referring to the way in which the former president of the Generalitat Carles Puigdemont allegedly fled from Catalonia after declaring the independence of Catalonia. Puigdemont has always considered this thesis ridiculous and has maintained that he left Spain by car in the direction of

“Thank God, Zelensky is not the type of leader who hides in a car, he stays there resisting and we have to support him,” Borrell said at a press conference after a videoconference with the European defense ministers. Puigdemont himself, via Twitter, has responded: “In these tragic moments, the last thing that is needed is for the European Union to have such irresponsible representatives.” The former president of the Generalitat denied having escaped in a trunk – “Borrell knows it” – and added that he believes that the high representative “is angry with me because I asked him why there are 44% Spaniards in his management team” , a figure, indicates Puigdemont, “much higher than the number of nationals that other commissioners have.” In his response, furthermore, Puigdemont considers that “it seems that someone regrets that in Barcelona [durante el referéndum del 1 de octubre del 2017] There wouldn’t be a bloodbath.”

Elsa Artadi, spokesperson for Junts per Catalunya, called this Monday for the role of the high representative to be “reviewed” when the current war situation in Ukraine ends due to his “frivolity” and “lack of leadership”. The Minister of Economy and Finance of the Generalitat, Jaume Giró, has assured that Borrell must retract or resign due to his statements.

In the fall of 2018, Puigdemont published, together with the Belgian journalist Olivier Mouton, the book The Catalan crisis. An opportunity for Europe in which he flatly denies that he left Catalonia hidden in a trunk. “Some media will say that I went inside the trunk of my wife’s car to the Marseille airport. That’s ridiculous,” says Puigdemont. “I sat in the car and traveled through France as normal to Belgium. I did not take any plane to Marseilles as he suggested. It’s amazing that people invent stuff like that.”