Spain is committed to condemning Puddemon and his associates, who were elected to the EP in 2019, for the events of 2017, when the Catalan government held a referendum on regional independence despite the Madrid ban, and the regional parliament after a majority voted in favor of secession. Madrid, voted in favor of declaring independence. These efforts came to an end with the Madrid decision to dismiss the region’s government and parliament, restore direct governance and announce new regional parliamentary elections. Some pro-independence leaders were arrested, while others managed to leave the country, including Puddemon and several of his associates in Belgium.
The new elections did not change the balance of power, but in the next elections in February this year, the majority of supporters of independence in the Catalan parliament increased even more, demonstrating what the majority of the region’s population wants. The desire for independence is not only diminished, but even heightened by the fact that in 2019 the Spanish Supreme Court sentenced nine Catalan leaders to long prison terms. Former Deputy Prime Minister of the region Urial Juncker was found guilty of inciting unrest and wasting public funds (considered referendum spending) and sentenced to 13 years in prison. For Mr Puddemon, a 30-year prison sentence is very real if he goes to Spanish court, although there is a strong possibility that he will already be refused extradition by a Belgian court.
The problem is that the EP, which is always ready to defend all possible rights, including the absurd ones, in third countries by circulating resolutions and condemnations, not only pretends not to know that the number of political prisoners in one of the largest EU Member States is increasing (just Catalan rapper Pablo Hasel is a good example), but is also involved in the process. Of course, real politics, Spain’s important role in the EU and other factors have not yet been reversed, but at the same time, inconsistencies, hypocrisy and double standards – both pantyhose and cross – certainly do not boost confidence in the EP, both in a united Europe and beyond. its borders.
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