CATALONIA ---- Protest in the Swedish parliament for the use of the EU as a weapon against the yes to independence - Col·lectiu Emma
Protest in the Swedish parliament for the use of the EU as a weapon against the yes to independence - Col·lectiu Emma
The president of the Committee for Foreign Affairs of the Swedish
parliament, Carl Schlyter, believes that the debate on how an
independent Catalonia would fit into the EU ‘cannot be used as an
argument or an ‘excuse’ in the electoral campaign. ‘Catalonia would meet
all of the criteria’ for membership of the EU, he says, and he predicts
that Spain ‘will see the benefits of having a good relationship with
Catalonia’. In declarations to the ACN from the parliament in Stockholm,
where this Thursday the Diplocat organised an event on the 27-S,
Schlyter, a member of the Green party, said that if the Catalans ‘choose
a different future’ the European governments will have to ‘react’.
The Council for Public Diplomacy of Catalonia (Diplocat) this Thursday
explained the independence process and the elections of 27 September to
the Swedish parliament. In an act organised jointly with the Green party
in Stockholm, and before the president of the Committee for Foreign
Affairs of the chamber, Carl Schlyter, the secretary general of the
Diplocat, Albert Royo, commented that the Catalan president, Artur Mas,
may be ‘judged and imprisoned’ in the coming weeks for having promoted
the 9-N survey. Royo stressed that the Catalans have ‘repeatedly’ asked
the Spanish government for a referendum, but that this has been refused
and that the ‘last way out’ is the 27-S poll.
‘A real referendum would be better’, says Schlyter
‘Democracy should be fair,’ the president of the Committee for Foreign
Affairs of the chamber, Carl Schlyter, assured to the ACN. Schlyter
regretted that the Catalans have to vote on independence ‘in a
complicated way’ on the 27-S, without a binding referendum, because the
Spanish government ‘denies one’. ‘It would be much better if you could
have a real referendum, at least everyone could give their opinion
fairly, and this is the base for everyone to respect the decision,’ he
said.
Schlyter, a member of the Green party in Sweden, assured that the
European governments ‘will not want to interfere with what the Catalans
choose.’ ‘But if the Catalans choose a different future, obviously we
will have to react,’ he predicted. ‘If a new state wants to come into
the EU, why should we refuse?’ the Swedish parliamentarian asked,
stressing that Catalonia would meet the ‘democratic, human rights and
economic’ requirements for entry. ‘It cannot be used as an argument, the
EU cannot be used as an excuse in this referendum.’ Schlyter warned.
The president of the Committee for Foreign Affairs of the Swedish
parliament admitted that Spain could have ‘a veto’ on adhesion and that
this would be ‘a problem’. In any case, Schlyter said that ‘if the
conclusion of the process is an unhappy marriage, the best thing would
be to be good friends,’ ‘I am sure that the people of Spain will see the
benefits of having a good relationship with Catalonia, whatever is
decided,’ he pointed out, because ‘it is always better to get on well
with your neighbours.’
