Puigdemont will return to Catalonia in December and tour its 947 municipalities

Carles Puigdemont plans to return to Barcelona before Christmas, after nine years in Waterloo. He will then embark on a tour of the 947 Catalan municipalities in preparation for the elections in May 2028.

According to Vozpópuli, the path for Carles Puigdemont to return to Catalonia was cleared after the magistrate of the Supreme Court Pablo Llarena lifted the precautionary measures without waiting for the Constitutional Court to rule on the amnesty regarding the crime of embezzlement. Those close to him had anticipated this step for some time. The former president estimates he will return to Barcelona two weeks after the elections on 29-N and, in any case, before Christmas.

With this return, a stage of nine years in Waterloo will come to an end, from where, according to the information itself, he has decisively influenced national politics to the extent of prompting the early general elections.

Llarena's ruling signifies the end of the legal dispute over whether Puigdemont should be tried in Spain. After the Constitutional Court extended the amnesty to former leaders convicted of embezzlement, the former president regains full freedom of movement. Alongside him, the amnesty also applies to former councillors Toni Comín and Lluís Puig. Puig has already set foot on Spanish soil, and Comín is expected to comply with the Constitution at the Central Electoral Board, a necessary step to formalise his status as a Member of the European Parliament.

The judge's decision also affects the warrants and, therefore, the prison orders that depended on them. It only remains for the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court, the court that judged the procés, to officially apply the amnesty law.

Once settled in Catalonia, Puigdemont wants to work in Barcelona, at the headquarters of the Office of the President, which has remained operational during these years but did not have facilities suitable for its functions. He will alternate this activity with his family life at his home in Girona.

The former president arrives with a defined programme. His main project is a tour of all 947 Catalan municipalities, which would start immediately after his return. The aim is to prepare his candidacy for the presidency of the Generalitat for the elections scheduled in May 2028.

The break between Junts and the PSOE, according to Puigdemont's circle, originates from the internal consultation held a year ago, in which 86.98% of the members voted to break with the Executive, while only 10.22% supported maintaining the backing. Since then, the party announced it would not support the 24 laws of the Government registered in Congress nor the 2026 Budgets.

For the Catalan reader, the practical detail is the timeline: the return is set to happen before Christmas, and the tour of the municipalities will begin afterwards, with visits to towns and cities across the community.