Catalan MEP says Catalonia underestimates strength of Spanish machine

Liberal MEP in the ALDE Group in the European Parliament and former member of the Spanish unionist UPyD party, Teresa Giménez-Barbat, warns that pro-independence leaders have underestimated Spain’s power to stop them in their efforts to organize a referendum on self-determination. In an interview with Catalan News, Giménez-Barbat insisted that on October 1 “there will be no collision of trains” because “the forces are very uneven.” “There can be no comparison with a nation like Spain; it is a very powerful machine,” said Giménez-Barbat, who denied that removing the ballot boxes in Catalonia with police help on October 1 would reflect badly on Spain internationally. “Even if the photo went around the world, a part of the world would be thankful for someone bringing some order to this situation,” she said.

Giménez Barbat celebrated the fact that, regarding Catalonia, the Spanish government’s “inaction has finally come to an end.” “It seems that they are moving now; that they are taking action they had not yet taken,” said the MEP, who shares a parliamentary group with Catalonia’s European Democratic Party (PDeCAT) and the Basque Nationalists (PNB) in Brussels.

Referring to the “collision of trains” in Catalonia on October 1, Giménez-Barbat considers it an odd metaphor because, she said, “the two sides are very uneven.” “That will become clear bit by bit,” she predicted, warning that “Spain’s machine has been wildly underestimated.” Giménez-Barbat added that she has no qualms about either the Catalan president or the country’s autonomous powers being suspended.