CATALONIA -- Catalan News Agency - Spanish Deputy Minister for the EU told Commissioner Reding “what is going on in this country”

Catalan News Agency - Spanish Deputy Minister for the EU told Commissioner Reding “what is going on in this country”

Spanish Deputy Minister for the EU told Commissioner Reding “what is going on in this country”

CNA

Madrid (ACN).- The Spanish Prime
Minister Mariano Rajoy disclosed that the Spanish Deputy Minister for EU
Affairs, Iñigo Méndez de Vigo had travelled to Barcelona on Sunday “to
talk with” Viviane Reding and tell her “what is going on in this
country”. On Tuesday evening, during the State of the
Nation Debate at the Spanish Parliament, Rajoy explained that Méndez de
Vigo’s trip to Barcelona was decided after the European Commission Vice
President had publicly called on Catalan and Spanish authorities to negotiate “without red-lines” to solve the conflict.
After talking to Reding, Méndez de Vigo took part in the Citizen’s
Dialogue organised in Barcelona on Sunday afternoon, which was part of a
series of talks Commissioners give throughout the EU, directly
answering the questions of citizens and local representatives. During
such an occasion, The European Commissioner for Justice gave the room to
Méndez de Vigo, who emphasised that an independent Catalonia would be
excluded from the EU and said that “only fools” discussed “this fact”.
Besides, Rajoy also stated before the Spanish Parliament that he had
spoken about Catalonia with the President of the European Commission,
José Manuel Durao Barroso, “and many other political leaders”, “because
it is [his] duty as Prime Minister”. Meanwhile, the Spokesperson of the
Catalan Government, Francesc Homs, ironically said that the Spanish
Foreign Affairs Ministry is putting “so much pressure […] for us not to
be received anywhere [to talk about the self-determination claims] that
in the end it opens doors for us, even just out of curiosity”.

Mariano Rajoy stated that Méndez de Vigo had travelled to Barcelona as an answer to Viviane Reding’s petition for dialogue “without red-lines”,
“to tell her […] what is going on in this country”. Rajoy was answering
the intervention of the Spokesperson of Spanish nationalist party UPyD,
Rosa Díez, who said that the European Commission Vice-President had “to
rectify” her request made to Spain and Catalan authorities because “the
law defines the red-lines”.

Díez was “grateful” to the Spanish Prime Minister for
giving a “political and not a legal speech on Catalonia and standing up
against the self-determination vote. She has also “reached out” to
Rajoy to heal Spain whose “entity is getting increasingly weaker”.

Spanish Foreign Affairs Ministry is fully engaged in pressuring against Catalonia’s self-determination

The Catalan Government Spokesperson and Minister for
the Presidency denounced that the Spanish Foreign Affairs Ministry
“pressured” other countries to try to prevent members of the Catalan
Executive and academics from “explaining” abroad the self-determination
claims shared by a majority of Catalans. “The Ministry is fully engaged
in such a campaign” he said, “calling universities, academics”. He
ironically added that he was “thankful” for this behaviour, because
“there is so much pressure from the Foreign Affairs [Ministry] for us
not to be received anywhere that in the end it opens doors for us, even
just out of curiosity”.

Besides, Homs explained that the Spanish authorities
“call universities to ask them not to organise events [related to
Catalonia’s self-determination]”. “They call academics and write
reports”, consequently “generating interest among the [international]
media”.

Regarding the trips of the President of the Catalan
Government and other members of the Executive abroad, Homs said it was
too soon to ask for reactions and international support for Catalonia’s
self-determination claims. He insisted that “there is a certain respect
regarding what is arising in Catalonia. It is not yet time to ask for
answers or anything in return. We are at a stage where we simply have to
go explain things and that’s it”.

More on

Catalan Government, Catalan Independence, Democracy, EU Membership, European Commission, European Union, Francesc Homs, Independence, José Manuel García-Margallo, Mariano Rajoy, Referendum, Self-Determination, Spanish Government, Spanish Nationalism, Spanish Parliament, Viviane Reding, Vote

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Iñigo Méndez de Vigo addressing the audience in front of Viviane Reding (by ACN)

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Related links

http://www.catalannewsagency.com/politics/item/the-european-commission-asks-for-dialogue-to-keep-catalonia-within-spain