Catalan Euro MPs ask the EU to intervene if there is “a clear risk” of a military threat against Catalonia

Brussels (ACN).- Four Members of the European Parliament (EP) asked the European Union “to pre-emptively intervene to guarantee that the resolution of the Catalan conflict is peaceful and democratic”. In a letter sent to the European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, Viviane Reding, the four MEPs denounce “the military threats” and “the tone used by the People’s Party and the Spanish Government”. They say that European legislation foresees the cancellation of the voting rights of a Member State if there is “a clear risk of serious […] and persistent breach” of the common values, according to article 7 of the Treaty of the European Union. They ask the European Commission to be vigilant and “to evaluate the real risks of a potential military intervention” by Spanish forces against Catalonia. The letter is sent by Ramon Tremosa – from the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU) and member from the ALDE group at the EP, Maria Badia – from the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) and member of the Social-Democrat group, Raül Romeva – from the Catalan Green Socialist Party (ICV) and member of the Greens/EFA group, and Ana Miranda – from the Galician Nationalist Party (BNG) and also member of the Greens/EFA group. Miranda is representing the Catalan Independence Party (ERC) since the BNG and ERC run together and they are sharing the seat this term.

“The EU has just won the 2012 Nobel Prize for Peace” and “therefore it is essential it publicly gets involved and demands to withdraw from the Spanish public debate any military threat or the use of armed forces as a way to solve this political conflict”, Tremosa, Badia, Romeva and Miranda claimed in the letter sent to the European Commission’s Vice-President Reding. The Catalan MEPs stated that “when the courts of a Member State do not guarantee the military subordination to the civil power, it is imperative that the EU intervenes”.

The MEPs from three different political groups at the European Parliament emphasise that the EU is founded, according to the article 2 of its Treaty, on the principles of “freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities”. They also mention the rights, freedoms and principles recognised in article 6. Tremosa, Badia, Romeva and Miranda also say that article 3 specifies “that peace is one of the EU’s goals”. Therefore, “the public statements that ask for the use of military violence against EU citizens are unacceptable”, they stated. “This sort of threat de facto limits Catalan and Spanish democracy, as well as the freedom of expression and demonstration rights”, they insisted in the letter sent to Reding, who now has to answer.

The European Commission should “evaluate the real risks of a military intervention”

The MEPs from the CiU, PSC, ICV, and BNG (representing the ERC) say that article 7 of the EU Treaty “establishes a control and recommendations procedure that may lead to the suspension of the voting rights of a Member State if there is a clear risk of serious and persistent breach of the common values”. They claimed in the letter that the European Commission, as the Treaty’s keeper, “has to be able to decide when to apply article 7 procedure against the Spanish State if it does not respond democratically to the citizens’ claims”. “We ask [the European Commission] to evaluate the real risks of a potential military action in Catalonia as well as the tone that some members of the People’s Party and the Spanish Government are using”, they told Reding.

“Independently of the State model wished by each person, it is inconceivable that arguments dating from Fascist and war time are openly being expressed nowadays”, the four MEPs emphasised. “In the defence of democracy and peace in Europe, we ask you to call for the stoppage of threats of using armed forces as a way to solve a political conflict within the European Union”, they told Reding. Specifically, the Euro MPs remarked that article 8 of the Spanish Constitution foresees that “the armed forces have a mission to guarantee the sovereignty and independence of Spain, defend its territorial integrity and the Constitutional regulations”. The four MEPs denounce the threats expressed by the European Parliament’s Vice-President Alejo Vidal-Quadras and the colonels Francisco Alamán and Leopoldo Muñoz Sánchez, Chairman of a military association.