Far-left CUP not to run in European election

Catalonia’s far-left pro-independence CUP party will not run in the European Parliament election next year, claiming that EU institutions epitomize "capitalism, imperialism, institutional racism, and the militarization of societies."  

With 4 seats, CUP is the smallest pro-independence party in the Catalan parliament and it only began running in major elections in 2012, after decades of grassroots activism.

CUP accuses the EU of being "silent" when Spain sent thousands of police officers to stop Catalonia’s independence referendum last year, leaving more than a thousand voters injured. The party also reproaches the EU’s lack of action regarding the prosecution and imprisonment of Catalan leaders in Spain.

Unlike CUP, the two main pro-independence parties in Catalonia will run in the European election in May next year: Junts per Catalunya (JxCat), led by ex-president Carles Puigdemont from exile, and Esquerra (ERC), with former vice president Oriol Junqueras running in the election from prison.

While CUP underlines the importance of putting the internationalization of the independence push at the center of its political strategy, the party believes that the EU should not be the framework of reference.

Anna Gabriel, the former leader of the party in the Catalan parliament, has been in exile in Switzerland since March last year, when she left Spain alleging she would not face a fair trial.