Spain’s embassy “obstructed” Catalan companies’ commercial mission to China

Barcelona (CNA).- Twenty Catalan companies from the meat, fish and citrus fruit sectors  couldn’t fulfil their commercial mission to China due to alleged obstruction by Spain’s diplomacy. According to Catalan Minister for Agriculture Jordi Ciuraneta, Spain’s embassy interfered to “cancel”two important meetings between Catalan businessmen, representatives from the Catalan government and several Chinese organisations responsible for authorising the Catalan companies’exports, scheduled for this Wednesday. Ciuraneta considered it “institutional aggression”that “damages”the Catalan companies who travelled to China and their commercial mission. Catalan liberal party CDC MEP Ramon Tremosa stated that Spain’s executive “contradicts the European policies regarding the opening of new markets”and asked the European Commission to investigate what he described as “Spain’s diplomacy boycott”.

According to sources consulted by CNA, the Chinese organisations received instructions from Spain’s embassy asking that the meetings to be held with the Catalan Minister “not have any content”.

The programme of the commercial mission in China, led by the Catalan Department of Agriculture, contained two meetings scheduled for this Wednesday which were cancelled at the last moment. One was supposed to be held between the Food Safety Bureau (SSB-AQSIQ)’s assistant manager, Bi Kexin, and the FSB’s Department of Meat Productsdirector, Wang Ning. The second meeting scheduled and ultimately cancelled was set to be between twenty Catalan businessmen whom had travelled to China and the China Certification and Accreditation Administration, the body responsible for authorising exports, and the China Inspection and Quarantine Association. 

According to sources consulted by CNA, the Chinese organisations received instructions from Spain’s embassy asking that the meetings to be held with the Catalan Minister “not have any content”.

Minister Ciuraneta lamented that those resources invested to guarantee the success of the commercial mission “have been wasted”and pointed out that such “obstruction”has not only damaged the companies and their workers, whom have gone to enormous expense to fulfil their commercial mission to China, but the “Catalan citizens as a whole”. “This has been done without any justified basis”stated and lamented that political motives “have damaged the workers in general, regardless of their ideology”. 

An EU response to such obstruction

Following this, Catalan liberal party CDC MEP Ramon Tremosa asked the European Commission to investigate “the Spanish boycott on the Catalan companies’delegation in China”. “Spain’s executive contradicts the European policies regarding the opening of new markets and increasing exports in order to reinforce the surplus in the trade balance”he pointed out in a parliamentary question, “if the Spanish State was the State of the Catalans, it wouldn’t use its diplomacy against them”he added. Tremosa asked the European Commission if they could “supply with diplomatic support”these kinds of commercial missions, as the commercial policies “are one of the EU’s pillars”and the increasing of exports one of the European’s semester “priorities”. He also urged the EC to take a stance on the fact that “political interferences could damage the export potential of European companies”.  “Spain’s diplomacy boycotts make the Catalan government’s foreign action more necessary than ever”he concluded.