Varoufakis criticizes Spain for having Catalan political prisoners

Thu, 17 Jan 2019 12:14:40 +0000

The Greek former finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, has criticised Spain for having “political prisoners” referring to the nine Catalan pro-independence leaders in precautionary detention, some for over a year.

In an interview with the Catalan News Agency, he said the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, is “clearly not doing enough” if the situation is going ahead. Varoufakis, who will run in the European election for ‘Demokratie Europe’ in Germany, feels “incensed and appaled” due to the existence of political prisoners in Europe, he added.

European issue

The Greek activist also criticized the European Union for its role in the crisis, as he believes this is a “humanitarian and European politics” issue.

“To condone the incarceration of elected officials because of the policies they pursued in response of the mandate they got from they people, and to justify it on the basis on constitutionality… this is a European issue” he said.

EU’s blind eye

Varoufakis accused Brussels of “washing its hands clean of this” and asked: “What kind of message is Brussels sending, when it says it is none of its business? What message is it sending to the illiberal democrats, to the emerging strongmen in various southern, central and now southern countries, like Italy? The message is what? We would turn a blind eye on the abuse of basic, political and human rights? This is not the Europe we want to live in.”

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Varoufakis criticizes Spain for having Catalan political prisoners - VilaWeb

Varoufakis criticizes Spain for having Catalan political prisoners