The Catalan police achieves small advances in the coordination against Jihadism in the Spanish state

The Mossos d’Esquadra, Catalonia’s integral police force, have competence in judicial matters and criminal investigation, including organised crime and terrorism. However, the Catalan police force has long been excluded from the system of coordinating the terrorist threat in the Spanish state, which is formed by the Spanish Civil Guard, the National Police and the National Intelligence Centre. The Mossos d’Esquadra have units specialised in the Jihadist threat that have acquired great recognition and prestige and have successfully carried out operations that have avoided attempts in Catalonia and abroad.

The Catalan and Basque governments have repeatedly asked for the Mossos and the Basque Ertzaintza to form part of the Centre of Intelligence against Terrorism and Organised Crime (CITCO) because it is very important to share information not only on the state level, but also in Europe, to give all the data we have and to achieve maximum efficiency in the fight against terrorism.

The Spanish Minister of the Interior says that the CITCO is now studying the ‘most effective and suitable formula’ for the Mossos and the Ertzaintza to become a part of the unit, but the ministry maintains the veto on the possibility of the Mossos having a direct relationship and a permanent presence in the European and international anti-terrorist security bodies. The Catalan police’s recent participation at a meeting of the CITCO was brought on by a direct request from the coordinator of the European Union’s anti-terrorist coordinator, Gilles de Kerchove, to the Minister of the Interior, according to different official sources. Kerchove considered that it was irrational that the integral police forces of Catalonia and the Basque Country should not be present in the body.

The problem of the discrimination of the Catalan government and police in the fight against terrorism is worrying, say security experts consulted by VilaWeb. The Spanish government has vetoed the Catalan police’s access to the principal international organisations such as INTERPOL and EUROPOL, where sensitive information is exchanged for the fight against Jihadism.

The Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy also recently held a round of meetings with the political leaders to deal with the Jihadist threat after the Paris attacks. He called representatives of some parties represented in the parliament and some which will be represented in the forthcoming legislature, but he did not call the President of Catalonia with the excuse that Artur Mas is pushing forward a process of independence. The Catalan government called for responsibility at such a serious threat as Jihadism, because it ‘knows no frontiers’ and is a ‘global threat’.