Search: Jordi Solé

Pro-independence party says imprisoned leader will still fight for his parliamentary immunity and his seat

ERC's Jordi Solé calls both cases "similar" and questions "double standards" of European institutions

ERC's Jordi Solé suggests Jean-Claude Juncker should talk to prisoners about "European values"

Member of European Parliament says EU should only "get involved" in Catalonia to help "implement" referendum result

The Catalan MEPs Jordi Solé and Josep-Maria Terricabras invite the Commissioner for Interior and Immigration to visit the CIEs in person

Catalan MEPs from left wing pro-independence party ERC Josep Maria Terricabras and Jordi Solé, and Ramon Tremosa, representing the Catalan European Democratic Party (PDeCAT) sent a letter to the 751 members of the European Parliament condemning Monday’s sentence against former Catalan government figures over the 9-N symbolic vote on independence, which took place in Catalonia in 2014. They consider “disgraceful and anti-democratic” the sentencing to a two year-ban from holding public office for former Catalan President, Artur Mas and the 21-month and 18-month bans for former vice president Joana Ortega and former Catalan Minister for Education Irene Rigau for allowing the non-binding referendum to take place. The Catalan MEPs assured in their joint letter that the court’s decision “will not deter the Catalans' will to express their views at the ballot box”.

The Spanish People’s Party (PP) attacked on Monday the talk to be given by Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, in the European Parliament, saying it is going to be unsuccessful. The leader of the PP group in Brussels, Esteban González Pons, who has written to all his party colleagues asking them to avoid the event, said that the talk is only being held in a room inside the EP because three MEPs have “rented” it. “They have rented a room in the European Parliament, as they could have done with a bar or a cafeteria”, he said a day before the address. González Pons admitted that the room, the biggest in the building, may well be full of people on Tuesday evening, but only “Green MEPs, extreme-left MEPs” or even “extreme-right MEPs” will attend, he said. In fact, the conservative politician added that the Catalan referendum, which has the support of 80% of people in Catalonia, is seen in Brussels as a “Spanish Brexit”. In a letter sent to all deputies, Swedish Green MEP Bodil Valero regretted the Spanish government efforts to boycott the event. The talk is organised by Catalan MEPs Ramon Tremosa (ALDE), Jordi Solé (Greens/EFA) and Josep-Maria Terricabras (Greens/EFA). Other Catalan MEPs such as Francesc Gambús (EPP) and Ernest Urtasun (Greens) will also attend.

Brussels is the chosen destination for Catalan President Carles Puigdemont’s first official trip abroad. It will be from the 30^th of April to the 2^nd of May and comes after Puigdemont’s visit to Paris, scheduled for March, had to be cancelled due to the coach accident which killed 13 Erasmus students in Freginals, in the South of Catalonia. Puigdemont made the announcement this Monday during a meeting with the delegates of the Catalan government abroad, the Catalan Government’s representative to the European Union, Amadeu Altafaj, the Catalan Minister for Foreign Affairs, Raül Romeva, and the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Jordi Solé. During the meeting, Puigdemont also confirmed the government’s will to open new delegations in the Vatican and Morocco as soon as possible.

Three new Catalan government delegations will be opened during this term of office. According to the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Jordi Solé, the new delegation in Lisbon will be in full operation “in the following months” while those planned for the Vatican City and Morocco are still pending deployment by the Government. Although these three new delegations have already been appealed by the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC), Solé insisted on the “key role” that these institutions play in Catalonia’s foreign affairs strategy and emphasised the government’s will to “continue deploying Catalonia’s institutional representation in the world”. The Catalan government already has seven delegations abroad, as well as three more projected in the short-term and some others to be opened in the near future.

Republican Dana Rohrabacher, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Europe stated that he sees “no reason why people in Catalonia cannot have their own choice of whether they want to be part of Spain”. He made this statement during a meeting with the Catalan Government’s Secretary for Foreign and European Union Affairs, Roger Albinyana, and Head of the Foreign Action Committee of the Catalan Parliament, Jordi Solé. Rohrabacher emphasised that “it’s better to let people decide and for them to choose to remain in the country, instead of making them feel they are being forced to stay”. Earlier in the week, 31 MEPs from 14 different member states sent a letter to the Spanish Defence Minister in which they urged him to “rectify” his position on Catalonia. Regarding the Minister’s declarations, the MEPs asked him to make it clear that Spain’s army won’t interfere in a situation which they described as “pacific and democratic”.