Two former Catalan government ministers in exile, Toni Comín and Lluís Puig, will return to Catalonia before Carles Puigdemont, marking a shift away from the former president’s planned post-election return. Their decisions, confirmed by the individuals themselves, signal a fragmented comeback rather than a unified political gesture.
Comín, who served as health minister, and Puig, a former culture minister, are set to end their nine-year stays abroad independently and without public ceremony. This contrasts with Puigdemont’s surprise decision to delay his return until after the upcoming general elections, a move seen as politically motivated to avoid accountability for potential electoral losses.
Comín has cited practical urgency: he was elected to the European Parliament in 2024 but did not formally take his seat due to fears of arrest. He must now travel to Madrid to collect his mandate, though he has not addressed the requirement to swear allegiance to the Spanish Constitution.
Puig, meanwhile, has already made unpublicised visits to regions including Ripollès, Empordà and Garrotxa, according to his own statements in a recent radio interview with RAC-1. His return to the Catalan Parliament is expected on 20 October, when the next plenary session is scheduled. As an elected member, he currently holds a delegated vote and receives a parliamentary salary, but must appear in person once his legal case is archived by the Supreme Court.
The individual returns dilute the narrative of a collective political exile, weakening the symbolic weight that Junts had previously built around it.
Their separate homecomings challenge the political narrative long maintained by Junts, which framed their absence as a dignified 'exile'. By returning on personal timelines and without fanfare, Comín and Puig undermine the idea of a unified, principled stand.
Comín was formally processed in March 2018 by Spain’s Supreme Court under case 20907/2017, alongside Puigdemont and others, on charges of rebellion and misuse of public funds. He, along with 13 others including Puig, was also held jointly liable for €2,135,948.60 in public expenses, a sum covered by a cash deposit from the Assemblea Nacional Catalana in July 2018.
Puigdemont remains under a separate financial investigation. The Court of Auditors has yet to resolve a €5 million claim against him for costs related to the 2017 independence referendum, a case that continues despite the broader amnesty law. The Constitutional Court has upheld the amnesty, allowing Puigdemont to return without risk of criminal prosecution, but financial accountability remains pending.
While Junts leadership has backed Puigdemont’s strategy, grassroots members express confusion and disappointment. Many had hoped his return would boost the party’s flagging poll numbers. Instead, the staggered and low-key returns of Comín and Puig offer little political momentum.
Puigdemont’s own return is now expected in December, during a narrow window between the Feast of the Immaculate Conception and Christmas. With the Supreme Court poised to close his criminal case, his return will be a political act, but one increasingly shaped by personal timing rather than collective symbolism.
Reported by elconfidencial.com, g.tejedor, larazon.es, SJE, Parlament de Catalunya, El Confidencial.
