Forcadell and pressure from Europe

I won’t beat around the bush: we should not expect the European Union to react against Spain’s judicial offensive. Europe is going through very challenging times. Brexit has eroded our shared project. The refugee crisis has deprived us of any moral authority we previously enjoyed. And the various consequences of the economic crisis have left the continent devastated and delegitimized our institutions.

Europe today is not strong, nor does it have a strong voice. In fact, it has already turned a blind eye on many serious situations without taking action to remedy them: in Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, and Turkey, to name only four cases. The credibility the European Union used to have as an area of security, prosperity, and respect for freedom today is merely a memory. Something that was and no longer is. In this context, we cannot expect Brussels to denounce or pressure Spain for its actions in the Catalan case. Not now.

That said, it is clear that things are heating up. And, while we cannot expect support from Europe right now, we must also recognize that a great change is taking place: Spain can no longer expect the complicit silence it enjoyed up until now. Especially given the Forcadell case.

Yesterday, Alex Salmond, the Scottish MP and former prime minister, warned that the prosecution of Carme Forcadell, the president of the Catalan regional parliament, had raised much concern among European politicians; Sinn Fein has asked the Irish government to bring the case before the European Council. These are two gestures that come in addition to other reactions we have seen over these past few days, and they could set a precedent for more declarations and position-taking of a similar nature, especially after the photograph of Forcadell entering the main courthouse in Barcelona, which everyone will have seen on Friday.

It is true, and it is only normal, that solidarity with Forcadell should come first from those who are closest to her, ideologically speaking. However, in the United Kingdom, a motion in the House of Commons to take a stance on her behalf has already received the support of Labour and Green MPs. It is not Catalan independence, or the ‘right to decide’ that these representatives are defending, but simply democracy, which is under threat by the Spanish government.

And therein lies the key. For many European politicians, defending the right to self-determination is a ‘hot potato’ issue that no one wants to touch. But it is one thing to keep quiet about a complicated issue and quite another to do so regarding undemocratic abuses.

And this is now the problem Spain finds itself in. Its arguments as to why Carme Forcadell is being prosecuted are incomprehensible to democrats everywhere. In fact, they are incompatible with democracy, to such an extent that interesting reactions are starting to emerge from countries that would much rather keep silent, if Spain only allowed them the chance.