A judge in Spain has issued a European arrest warrant for former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont, and four of his former councillors, all currently in Belgium.
Brussels has said it will "study" the warrant issued.
"We're going to study it and then give it to a judge," spokesman Eric Van der Sijpt said.
Mr Puigdemont left for Belgium after Catalonia's regional government was sacked by Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy hours after the Catalan parliament made a unilateral declaration of independence last week.
The ousted Catalan leader and his associates face charges of rebellion, sedition, misuse of public funds and breach of trust.
The judge rejected Mr Puigdemont's request to testify via video conference from Belgium.
Earlier, Mr Puigdemont said he was "ready" to stand in the snap regional election called in Catalonia for 21 December.
"I am ready to be a candidate... it's possible to run a campaign from anywhere," Mr Puigdemont told Belgian state television RTBF.
"We consider ourselves a legitimate government," he said.
He added: "There must be a continuity to tell the world what's going on in Spain...It's not with a government in jail that the elections will be neutral, independent, normal."
Mr Puigdemont was dismissed last week as Catalan president by the Spanish government, hours after the region declared itself an independent nation.
As well as removing Mr Puigdemont as head of the autonomous region, Mr Rajoy also fired the police chief and said central government ministries would take over the Catalan administration.
Mr Puigdemont's Belgian lawyer Paul Bekaert had earlier said a warrant had been issued, but this has been denied by a court official in Madrid.
Mr Bekaert arrived at his office this morning without making any comment to waiting reporters.
