graham watson

Despite the fact that the International Liberal-Democrats explicitly recognised Catalonia's right to self-determination in their last congress in April, their group within the European Parliament (ALDE) has finally accepted 6 MEPs from the Spanish nationalist and populist parties Unión Progreso y Democracia (UPyD) and Ciutadans (C's), who totally oppose this principle. Desperately looking for seats in order to continue being the 3^rd largest political group within the Euro-Chamber, the ALDE leadership proposed to accept the membership request from UPyD and C's, who would bring 4 and 2 MEPs respectively, despite the strong protests from the Catalan Liberal party CDC (which is part of the governing Convergencia i Unió coalition, CiU) and the Basque National Party (PNV). The members of the ALDE finally voted to accept UPyD and C's MEPs, but they also approved the creation of a sub-group defending Catalonia's self-determination.

The alliance of Liberal parties from throughout the world included a motion supporting Catalans' right to self-determination and to stay within the European Union in its main resolution approved at their international congress that took place in Rotterdam last weekend. "Liberal International will support any decision taken by the Catalan people on their future" reads the text, which also "expresses concern over the lack of real dialogue" between Spanish and Catalan authorities "to discuss a negotiated roadmap over the future of Catalonia". Among the parties backing this statement are the UK's Lib-Dems, the Dutch VVD and Germany's FDP. The resolution also states that "the European Union has to be flexible and strong to offer a viable alternative for those people that want to democratically express themselves within it".

Graham Watson, one of the leaders of Liberal Group at the European Parliament emphasised that “the EU has to be a sufficiently strong but sufficiently flexible entity to allow people to express themselves within it”. This “may mean some changes to boundaries; but we are democrats and if that is what the majority wants then that is what must happen” added the leader of the third largest group at the Strasbourg Parliament. According to Watson, the debate about Catalonia or Scotland’s possible independence “is a very important issue for the European Union”. The British politician sent a clear message to Spain: “This is not a period of kings and nation-states, it’s a period of people working together through their democratically-expressed will and that should be as clear to a Castilian as to anyone else”.