26/03/2018 (Agence Europe) – On Monday 26 March, the European Commission declined to comment on the arrest the previous day of the former president of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, in Schleswig-Holstein (northern Germany). In the Commission's view, this is a purely judicial procedure as part of the European arrest warrant and the Commission therefore has nothing to say. At the European Parliament, however, the co-chairs of the Greens/EFA Group, Ska Keller and Philippe Lamberts, called for European mediation, on Saturday 24 March, following the issue of a new arrest warrant by the Spanish authorities. The president of the European Alliance at the Committee of the Regions, Karl Vanlouwe (Belgium), meanwhile condemned the "Spanish government aggression against democratically elected politicians" and called for dialogue. (PH)