He called the European Union a “club of decadent and obsolescent countries controlled by a small few and closely linked to increasingly debatable economic interests”.
Puigedemont was reacting to Brussels’ inaction in support of the Spanish government’s actions to thwart the Catalan independence moves.
He complained: “They’re constantly telling us we’re going to be left out of the EU but the ones who should take that decision are the citizens of Catalonia.
“Let’s see what the people of Catalonia say. Perhaps there are not many people who want to be part of this EU…so insensitive to the abuse of human rights, of the democratic right of a part of its territory only because a post-Franco right wants it to be that way.”
But in France, Marine Le Pen has said it is possible to improve the lives of French citizens without leaving the EU. Her new comment is a marked shift from the anti-EU stance she held during her failed presidential bid.
“In numerous areas it is possible to improve the daily life of the French without quitting Europe or the euro currency,” Le Pen told French weekly magazine Valeurs Actuelles.
During her election campaign, Le Pen had promised a referendum on EU membership, but French voters are not keen to leave, polls have shown.
Puigdemont’s comments to an Israeli TV station, was dismissed as “absurd” by Mariano Rajoy, the Spanish prime minister.