“Now it's really a choice of voters”, stated Dombrovskis this
Friday, referring to the upcoming 27-S Catalan elections, which have
gained international interest. He made this declaration during a
breakfast meeting at the European Policy Centre in Brussels, where the
governance of the Economic and Monetary Union was being discussed.
During the session, a journalist asked Dombrovskis about the
consequences of the Greek elections, which will take place on Sunday,
and those of Catalonia. Assuming that Catalonia’s pro-independence
forces would win, she asked what would be his message to the Catalan
people. “The European Commission does not normally comment on party
politics in member states or their regions”, answered Dombrovskis and
added that “now it's really a choice of votersso from that point of view
we cannot comment a lot on elections or different implications of one
vote or another because certainly our intention is not to influence
votes in member states and regions. So now it's really in the hands of
voters. As the Commission has always outlined, we are ready to work with
democratically elected or appointed authorities of member states”.
In 2013, Dombrovskis advised paying attention to Catalonia’s process
Back in 2013, when he was Latvia’s Prime Minister, Dombrovskis
himself admitted that it was “worth paying attention” to Catalonia’s
push for independence. When asked if he would recognise an independent
Catalonia, he said that “if there is legitimacy in their process, then I
would say, theoretically, why not?” but also admitted that if Catalonia
were to obtain its independence through a Unilateral Declaration, the
situation then “could be more complicated”. Either way, he refused to
deny international recognition of this hypothetical new state, which
made Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs, José Manuel García-Margallo,
ask for rectification. Margallo summoned Latvia’s ambassador in Madrid
to rectify the comment but Dombrovskis refused to change his statement.
“The Prime Minister said what he said” added Dombrovskis’ spokesman and
added that he had “nothing to take back”.
