Spain excludes Catalan police from Europol while granting access to Basques
The Catalan government expressed outcry after the Spanish executive
granted the Basque police, Ertzaintza, access to the Europol database
while excluding the Catalan police, the Mossos d’Esquadra. Spanish and
Basque officials came to an agreement about the matter in a security
coordination meeting, which also generated uneasiness in Catalonia, as
its executive has called for a similar bilateral meeting for years. The
last one between Madrid and Barcelona was held back in 2009, although
the Spanish government had committed to holding one on a yearly basis.
Catalan Minister of Home Affairs Jordi Jané stated that “the
bilateral security coordination meeting in the Basque country has been
held while calls and letters from Catalonia are not answered”. “Why, if
not for political reasons?,” he wondered. Jané warned that the country
shares a border with France and “in a few hours a French terrorist can
be in the Empordà,” in northern Catalonia.
Spain’s Secretary of Home Affairs José Antonio Nieto said the
bilateral security coordination meeting will only be called in an
“atmosphere of agreement and trust” between the Spanish and Catalan
executives. Nieto also suggested this is unlikely as long as members of
the Catalan government try to “deliberately violate” the law by calling
an independence referendum.
