Have Catalan officials fled to Belgium?

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Could Belgium offer asylum to Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont and his government?

The rumour is doing the rounds in Brussels.

Prime Minister Charles Michel denies that is on the agenda.

But his Migration minister Theo Franckens of the separtist NVA party said during the weekend that such a request would be “100 percent legal”

There is as yet no confirmation that Puigdemont is in Brussels.

Belgian ministers are keeping mum.

Immigration officials, not ministers, have the final say here in Belgium.

EU citizens that request asylum here need to prove that they have a well founded fear of persecution, or face a real risk of suffering harm.