CATALONIA --- The EU ‘will have to stop looking the other way’ about Catalonia | VilaWeb
The EU ‘will have to stop looking the other way’ about Catalonia
'It will need to recognise that there is a political problem that
requires some decisions to be taken', said the Catalan President, Carles
Puigdemont
The Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, said in an interview with
the CNA that the European Union will have to intervene in the Catalan
conflict. ‘At some point, probably not now, the EU will have to stop
looking the other way. It will need to recognise that there is a
political problem that requires some decisions to be taken’ in Brussels,
he stressed. Amid growing political tensions between Catalan and
Spanish institutions over independence and threats of suspension or even
prosecution against the Catalan Parliament President, Carme Forcadell,
Puigdemont warned that political problems require ‘political solutions’.
According to the Catalan President, however, it is now
‘understandable’ for the EU to stay away from the Catalan issue and to
describe it as an ‘internal matter’. ‘They do not want to create a
conflict between member states’, he pointed out, adding that this will
change in the future if someone formally asks the EU to intervene. ‘Then
the EU will not be able to refrain from’ answering, he said.
The Catalan Parliament President, Carme Forcadell, could be suspended
from office and even criminally charged for allowing a vote about the
independence roadmap. Specifically, Parliament voted and passed the
conclusions of the Committee to Study the Constitutive Process, a group
responsible for designing Catalonia’s strategy towards independence. The
conclusions report was ‘suspended’ in August by the Spanish
Constitutional Court for violating the Spanish Constitution and actions
could be now taken against Forcadell.
Catalan President Carles Puigdemont said to the CNA that prosecuting
the President of the Catalan Parliament would be ‘outrageous’. ‘I hope
they do not (criminally charge her) because we are talking about a
political issue that needs to be solved politically, and only
politically it will be solved’, he stressed. But warned: ‘They are
capable of doing anything, because they have lost their grip on
Catalonia’. Puigdemont said it would be a ‘huge mistake’ to criminally
charge the President of a democratically-elected parliament for allowing
a vote on the conclusions of a committee. ‘It would not look good
abroad’, he stated. Puigdemont did not close the door to bringing the
case to European courts if needed.
Spain’s political deadlock
Asked about the renewed political standstill in Spain after Mariano
Rajoy lost a second confidence vote on Friday, Carles Puigdemont said
the blame is on Spanish politicians. ‘If Spain is in a stalemate is
because it has decided to be in a stalemate, not because Catalonia is
not willing to help’, he said. The only solution, he added, is to find
‘political courage’ and allow a referendum in Catalonia. In that sense,
he suggested that the Spanish Socialist party (PSOE) should try to form
an alternative government with the support of Unidos Podemos and the
Catalan and Basque nationalists.
Unidos Podemos had the referendum in its manifesto, but the PSOE is
totally against it. But by allowing a vote on independence such a
hypothetical alliance would get the support of most Catalan MPs. In this
week ballots, 36 out of 47 Catalan MPs voted against the proposed
PP-led government. Puigdemont admitted, however, to be sceptical about
this option but said he will not lose hope.
‘If there is a PP government or new elections, we will move forward’
with the independence agenda, said Puigdemont. However, if a new Spanish
governments puts a referendum on the table, the Catalan government will
sit around the table and negotiate to ‘modulate’ its plans.
