Toni Comín walks back into Catalonia from France nine years after 1-O

A walk across the border

Toni Comín, a former Catalan minister and Junts member of the European Parliament, crossed the Franco-Spanish border on foot on Sunday, 25 October. He walked from Cerbère in France to Portbou in Girona, a route La Vanguardia says took about an hour. Around a hundred relatives, friends and party colleagues joined him after he had called them to Cerbère for 11:30. Comín first wanted to make the return alone and incognito, with a visit to the cemetery where his mother and brother are buried. He gave his speech at the Coll de Belitres, the summit that marks the border, beside a memorial to the thousands of Spanish Republicans who went into exile during the Civil War.

Speaking there, he said:

We have won, I am going home.

Legal path back

Comín had lived in Leuven, Belgium, for almost nine years. Spain's Supreme Court confirmed that the amnesty applies to him, to Carles Puigdemont and to Lluís Puig. Puig had made his own return on Wednesday, 21 October, crossing the border without cameras. On Thursday, 22 October, Comín went to the Junta Electoral Central in Madrid and swore the Constitution, a legal requirement for collecting his credential as a European Parliament member. According to La Vanguardia, no arrest warrant against him remains in force, and El Periódico reports that he renewed his identity card at a National Police station inside the Congress building because his documents had expired.

Victory, price and exile

At the Coll de Belitres, Comín called the return a collective victory for the independence movement, though not the definitive one. He said independence "however high the price, remains a possible goal", provided supporters are willing to pay it democratically and peacefully. He told the crowd the cause is still "just as necessary" nine years on, and that the price of final victory is far higher than the movement had believed. He credited exile with making the amnesty possible and thanked his lawyer, Gonzalo Boye, in these words:

Honour and glory to Gonzalo Boye. Without exile there would have been no amnesty.

He also argued that exile had made the movement stronger and had produced independentist wins in European judicial bodies.

Allies and absences

Josep Rius, Junts vice-president and spokesman, was among the people who received Comín at the Cerbère lighthouse, where they held esteladas and a 1-O ballot box. Jaume Asens, a Comuns MEP and a friend of Comín, and Xavier Antich, president of Òmnium Cultural, also attended. Laura Borràs and sons of former president Jordi Pujol joined along the route. Jordi Turull, Junts secretary general, did not come because of his mother's death, which he announced on Twitter.

What remains

Carles Puigdemont is now the only one of the three leaders still abroad, and he remains in Waterloo, Belgium, while his court case awaits definitive archiving. El Periódico reports that his return is expected to be institutional rather than tied to the 29-N electoral calendar, and that he will come back last and alone. Comín said the struggle continues, and that his own return is not the final victory.