The European Commission avoids pronouncing on Catalonia

The spokesperson of the European Commission, Margaritis Schinas, was today asked by a journalist from El País, Claudi Pérez, whether the position of the current presidency of the EC, with Jean-Claude Juncker, on whether a region of a member state of the EU becoming independent would remain in the EU, had changed with respect to the position established in 2004 by Romano Prodi. At no time did the journalist use the word ‘Catalonia’ or relate the question to Catalonia.

The spokesperson’s answer was, ‘Yes. I can confirm it. This is still president Juncker’s position’. Then the journalist from El País asked whether this meant that the region would be excluded immediately, once more without mentioning Catalonia at any time, and Schinas said, ‘I can confirm the president’s position. The European Commission continues to maintain what was established by president Prodi in 2004. He said on different occasions that if part of a member state stops forming a part because it becomes independent, the treaties will no longer apply to this territory and the new independent territory would become a third state and could apply to join the EU. This was the position of the Commission in 2004 and is the position that Juncker recalled during the campaign and the position he believes in today.’

After the spokesperson Schinas had explained this, the TV3 correspondent in Brussels, Francesc Serra, asked, ‘Has this legal and official analysis been asked for by any member state?’ And Schinas answered, ‘This is the position that the Commission has expressed on different occasions during parliamentary questioning since 2004 with president Prodi and I can confirm that this is president Juncker’s position’. The TV3 correspondent then insisted, ‘On different previous occasions, spokespersons of this commission had said that any legal analysis made by the Commission first has to be called for by a state. I would like to know whether Spain has asked for this legal analysis.’ At this point, visibly uncomfortable, the spokesperson for the EC simply said, ‘The European Commission’s position has been expressed by the president. I will not say any more.’

Although these were the declarations of the spokesperson of the EC, the El País newspaper completely manipulated the answer and published a textual quote that was entirely non-existent. The header of El País is ‘Brussels: An independent Catalonia would immediately leave the EU,’ even though Schinas at no time mentioned the name of Catalonia or answered favourably to the question on whether the hypothetical expulsion would be immediate. Nor did the journalist from El País say in their article that when another journalist had asked for specification on whether the EU was referring to Catalonia, the spokesperson of the Commission did not answer affirmatively.