Catalan MEP to Von der Leyen on Spain and Poland: “The day of reckoning is approaching”

  • Clara Ponsatí and Diana Riba warn the president of the Commission that keeping double standards is always dangerous

VilaWeb
VilaWeb
19.10.2021 - 14:34
Actualització: 19.10.2021 - 16:34

Catalan MEP Clara Ponsatí (Junts) and Diana Riba (ERC) have warned the President of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, that the Polish crisis cannot be understood without the inaction of the European institutions in relation to the violation of human rights by Spain against the Catalan pro-independence movement. They said this in separate speeches in the European Parliament, where a session on the threat of the rule of law in Poland took place today, with the presence and intervention of the Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.

Ponsatí told Von der Leyen that the moment when the Spanish courts will be unauthorized is approaching. “The credibility of the European institutions is in danger, and not just because of Poland. What we see in Poland comes from the laxity of the European institutions towards powerful members such as Spain, which has good control of the machinery in Brussels. We have repeatedly denounced the indulgence of Spanish abuses of the rule of law, but you don’t listen to us. This double standard now takes its toll on you […]. Now, whatever you do with Poland, you will have to do it sooner or later with Spain, because the Spanish courts are also violating European law and the day of reckoning is approaching.”

Riba has also told her that it is urgent to react in relation to Spain: “President Von der Leyen, I invite you to look up: in the EU there have been imprisonements for protesting, for holding a referendum or for performing a rap; the asylum right is violated, there are MEPs who can exercise their mandate everywhere except in their country. Journalists have been assassinated in the EU because they investigated power, and the corruption of runaway monarchs is being covered up. Leaving aside the double standards, we need an effective rule of law control mechanism for all member states. […] The foundations of the European project are cracking. To be a European today is not to settle for inaction.”

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