The former president of the Generalitat Carles Puigdemont has revealed in an extensive interview in El Món to RAC1 that during the more than six years he has spent in Belgium, his identity card, passport and even his driving license have expired, documents that do not has been able to renew in Spain.
Although the former president and Junts candidate for the Parliamentary elections on May 12 has explained that he has had no problems moving around the Schengen area thanks to the Belgian residence card and the “laissez passer”, the card that accredits him as member of the European Parliament and which allows him mobility throughout the Union, Puigdemont explained that in order to drive he had to obtain his Belgian driving license from scratch.
To obtain the Belgian driving license, the independence leader has completed 30 hours of driving practice, a risk perception test and the driving test itself, which he took “on the first try like 40 years ago,” as he said.
Puigdemont, who in the interview has assured that he plans to return to Spain coinciding with the investiture debate in the Parliament whether he has the option of being inaugurated or not, has commented as an anecdote that during the practical exam he had to take a demi tour, that is, a change of direction on the same street, something that “would be a sin in Catalonia.” “It can be done but it has to be done well,” warned the still MEP, who explained that the exam had to be done with a car with gears “when we are already used to driving automatic cars.”
Puigdemont has also shown the more personal part of his eventual return to Catalonia and in particular to his city of Girona. The Junts candidate has emphasized that he wants to put a flower on his father’s grave in the Amer cemetery. “I spoke to my father on Skype before he died and I followed the funeral on Skype,” the MEP said to summarize the feeling surrounding his return. He has also explained that he really wants to see his mother and his brothers. And he has recognized the desire to “breathe Girona” again, go to the market or Montilivi to watch football or go out with friends… In any case, he has made it clear that this “is a very intimate thing” and that he does not want cameras right now.
Another anecdote that Puigdemont has told is in relation to his love for the Girona Football Club, third in the League and a clear candidate to play in the Champions League next season. According to what he indicated, a group of young international relations students from Madrid approached him in the European Parliament with whom they took photographs, including a young woman wearing the Real Madrid shield on the screen. “You’re from Rela Madrid,” he told her; “And you from Girona, we all know it,” she replied. “Girona now has a letter of introduction, many people ask me about Girona, it has prestige,” she concluded.
