Romeva defends Catalonia’s “own voice” in tribute to World War I volunteers

Barcelona (CNA).- Catalan Minister for Foreign Affairs, Raül Romeva paid tribute this Monday to the Catalans who volunteered to fight with the French Foreign Legion which liberated Belloy-en-Santerre from the German forces, on the 4^th of July 1916. During the ceremony, Romeva staked a claim for Catalonia’s “own voice in the world” to defend “universal values” and emphasised that those soldiers “fought for these ideals, against authoritarianism and for republican values”. After a diplomatic conflict which nearly banned the Catalan Government from taking part in the homage, Romeva celebrated that Catalonia was finally able to pay tribute to the soldiers with the Catalan flag and apart from the Spanish Government. “Out of respect for those who died for these values”, said Romeva, it was “very important that this homage could turn out well”.

Romeva described the ceremony as “plural” and “especially moving” and thanked the local authorities for “showing their deep gratitude to Catalonia”. 

The battle of Belloy-en-Santerre (Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Haut-Picardy District) was carnage: in one day alone, 900 soldiers from the French Foreign Legion were killed by German machine guns. 50 of them were Catalan, led by Catalan poet Camil Campanyà. Another poet, American Alan Seeger also died during the battle.

After World War I, the so-called ‘Mancomunitat de Catalunya’ (‘The Commonwealth of Catalonia’), an institution which grouped the four provincial administrations of Catalonia from 1914 and 1925, together with Barcelona’s City Hall funded the reconstruction of the village, which was literally devastated after the battle. This is why some of the main roads in Belloy-en-Santerre are named ‘Rue de Catalogne’ and ‘Rue de Barcelona’. Moreover, on the City Hall’s façade, there is a commemorative plaque as a tribute to Campanyà. Catalan Minister, Raül Romeva, inaugurated this plaque this Monday, together with the Delegate of the Catalan Government in Paris, Martí Anglada.

A diplomatic conflict with the Spanish Government

The aim of the French authorities was to invite Romeva as part of the Spanish delegation, but the Catalan Government refused, since “the vast majority” of the Catalan volunteers who fought with the French Foreign Legion were “pro-independence supporters”. In the end, and thanks to the pressure exercised by the different mayors from the area, Catalonia could take part with its own flag and aside from the Spanish Government. Despite this “moment of great transcendence, change and reorganisation of many issues which are being discussed” Catalonia is “willing to go beyond this short-term situation and look to the long-term”, stated the Catalan Minister for Foreign Affairs.