How EU law came to the fore in the Catalan independence debate - and what it means for Carles Puigdemont

The Catalan independence movement has made repeated calls for EU actors to take a role in resolving the crisis that followed the independence referendum in October, but until now the response from EU leaders has largely been that the situation is an internal one to be dealt with in Spain. Auke Willems writes that despite the EU's intention to stay quiet on the matter for as long as possible, the case of Carles Puigdemont, who fled to Belgium in October, has now brought EU law into the crisis, and could yet force a direct judgment from one of the EU’s institutions over his extradition to Spain.