A biography for Carles Puigdemonthasn’t been written yet.
“I could not disobey the will of the Catalan parliament.”
“It is crucial that there is a government in Madrid secure enough to engage with Catalonia politically rather than continue the denial and legal obstructionism of the Rajoy years.”
“I express Catalonia's wish of being in the E.U. We'll see what happens.”
“How can we later criticise other countries outside the European Union for adopting such measures to repress opponents when we are tolerating this inside the European Union with European citizens? Like me - I'm a European citizen.”
“Catalan politics emancipated from the Spanish politics on September 27, 2015. Since then, we've acted with a sovereign mentality, political sovereignty.”
“The return to normality is a defeat for the terrorists.”
“I think, in Spain, they are too used to reaching the limits of democracy and then stepping over them.”
“It's very irresponsible to deny the reality of a problem to see whether it might stop existing.”
“We show each day that we are prepared to act as an independence state... Not just in exceptional moments.”
“There is no button that you push and the next day you become independent.”
“Sometimes one has to take on responsibilities that weren't those one imagined.”
“I don't want to go to prison... but there is nothing they can do to me that will make me stop this referendum.”
“As president, I have the right to call a referendum based on a law that the Catalan parliament has approved.”
“The best leaders don't set timid and selfish goals but instead set bold targets that may be harder to achieve.”
“What is more important? What the members of a politicised tribunal say, or what the citizens vote for? For me, it is clear.”
“There's no alternative to Catalan independence.”
“He who calls a person a fascist for opposing independence is not only wrong but putting themselves on the same level as those who call us Nazis for wanting independence.”
“European values, civil rights, freedom of speech, freedom of informatio,n and freedom of assembly are being violated by Spain's central government.”
“There's a serious and worrying return to the fall of democracy in Spain, and it's not just us who are realising that.”
“Catalan citizens are peaceful, European, and open-minded. We want to contribute to better international and European governance.”