Euro MPs ask the European Commission about the respect for the independence of judicial power in Spain

Brussels (ACN).- Six Members of the European Parliament brought about the forced resignation of Catalonia’s Attorney General to the European Commission by registering a formal question about the controversial case on Thursday. They reminded the Commission that the independence of judicial power is an essential condition for being a member of the European Union. Earlier this week the Director of the Public Prosecution Office of Catalonia, Martín Rodríguez Sol, was pushed to resign by his boss at a Spanish level, who is directly appointed by the Spanish Government. Rodríguez Sol said, in an interview published on Sunday, that it was “legitimate” to “allow the people” to decide on their collective future regarding Catalonia’s self-determination process. However, he emphasised that he was not supporting an independence referendum as such because “it does not fit into the current legal framework”, but he suggested that a “legal vote” could be held with the appropriate question being asked. He also stated that legal frameworks should be connected to social realities and should be changed to answer these realities. On Monday, the day after the interview was published, Eduardo Torres-Dulce, the Director of the Public Prosecution Office of Spain – who rules on all the prosecutors in the country including on Rodríguez Sol – started the process to dismiss the Catalan attorney. Liberal associations of judges and attorneys reacted with perplexity to the decision. Most of the Catalan political parties considered it an attack by Spanish nationalists against the freedom of speech, one which seriously undermines the quality of the Spanish democratic system. On Tuesday, in the middle of the outrage the Spanish Attorney’s decision had caused in Catalonia, Rodríguez Sol went to Madrid to talk to his boss and the Council of Prosecutors. In the afternoon he presented his resignation that was immediately accepted by Torres-Dulce. Now, the controversy has reached Brussels.

All the Catalan MEPs, except those of the People’s Party that rules the Spanish Government, filed a join question to the European Commission, worried about the latest events in Spain, with Catalonia’s main prosecutor being obliged to resign for not having condemned the Catalonian self-determination process. The two MEPs from the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU) – which runs the Catalan Government –, Ramon Tremosa and Salvador Sedó; the two from the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC), Maria Badia and Raimon Obiols; that of the Catalan Green Socialist and Communist Coalition (ICV-EUiA), Raül Romeva; and the MEP from the Galician Nationalist Party (BNG), Ana Miranda, who acted on behalf of the Left-Wing Catalan Independence Party (ERC) have all filed the question together (the ERC and the BNG were part of the same electoral coalition; they won one seat and they exchange it after reaching half of the parliamentary term). The six MEPs have asked the European Commission if it believes that Spain fulfils the European criteria of independence of judicial power from political pressure. The MEPs have underlined Chapter 23 of the conditions imposed by the European Union on the candidates to become an EU Member State, which clearly states that “judiciary independence is of supreme importance”. The MEPs believe the same standards for the accession have to be maintained once the country is part of the EU.

[for further information on Rodríguez Sol’s case, click here]