Catalan election results must be respected “whatever the outcome”, say MEPs

A group of European Parliament (EP) members visited Catalonia on December 21 to observe an election that comes after months of unprecedented political tension over the push for independence. The MEPs regretted that the European Union (EU) did not authorize an official delegation of international observers, and said that the EU—as well as the Spanish government—should respect the results of the vote.

“What happens today needs to be respected,” said Martina Anderson, an Irish MEP for the Sinn Féin and member of the European United Left-Nordic Green Left (GUE-NGL) group. She stressed the importance of “getting behind the people of Catalonia whatever the outcome”.

“Madrid doesn’t want us to be here, which is already a reason to be cautious,” said Mark Demesmaeker, a member of the European Conservatives and Reformists EP group for the New Flemish Alliance.