Catalan Speaker elected:

Catalonia’s parliament picked a separatist speaker on Wednesday, signalling the possible return of sacked nationalist Carles Puigdemont as the region’s leader and the renewal of full-blown political confrontation with Madrid.

The new regional assembly was meeting for the first time, and the decision to appoint Roger Torrent shattered the fragile calm that has characterised relations with central government since it was elected in December.

“The will of the Catalan people is to have President Puigdemont back” as head of government, pro-independence lawmaker Elsa Artadi told Reuters after the legislature — where secessionists hold a slim majority — picked Torrent as speaker.

Puigdemont is in self-imposed exile in Belgium, where he fled in October to avoid arrest and the threat of jail after Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy fired him from the same job for leading Catalonia’s independence bid.

A first vote to choose a new leader is likely on Jan 31, and Catalonia’s two main pro-independence parties reaffirmed late on Tuesday they would back Puigdemont.

Rajoy said he would not allow him to be reappointed — and rule — from Brussels. But in a possible sign of how such an arrangement might work, Puigdemont’s party posted a photo of a smiling Torrent speaking on a mobile in parliament, with a caption saying it was taken as the ex-leader congratulated him on his appointment. (RTRS)