World Bulletin / News Desk

Sacked Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, in Copenhagen to muster international support for an independent Catalonia, has cited Denmark's autonomous territories Greenland and the Faroe Islands as models for a peaceful bid for independence.

"It's not easy I know but you're proof that it's possible," Puigdemont said Monday during a seminar on the Catalan crisis at the University of Copenhagen.

On Tuesday, Puigdemont was to meet with Danish MPs at the invitation of Magni Arge, a representative of the Faroese separatist party Tjodveld (Republicans). 

No representatives from the parties that make up Denmark's centre-right government will be present.

Arge, who served as an observer for the banned Catalan independence referendum in October that saw a brutal police crackdown, said the purpose of the meeting was to take stock of relations between regional capital Barcelona and the central government in Madrid.

And for Puigdemont, the aim was to learn more about the road to independence being pursued by Denmark's former colonies.

The Scandinavian country -- a small parliamentary monarchy that has built its prosperity on reform, dialogue and consensus rather than social uprisings -- has since the 1950s gradually granted its former possessions increasing sovereignty.

Negotiations have occasionally been thorny, such as those on control of natural resources, but for the most part disputes are resolved through compromise.

"It's not a criminal act in Denmark to be in favour of the independence of the Faroe Islands," Arge told AFP.