In a speech made to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday 4 October, the First Vice President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, said that the Catalan crisis should be resolved by “those concerned”, namely, “the 46 million Europeans who are Spanish citizens”. This declaration appears to suggest that the possibility of European mediation, under the supervision of the European Commission, is not being envisaged for the time being.
It should be pointed out that following the referendum by Catalonia, which was contested by violent police charges that led to 893 people being injured, the European Parliament has decided to add a point of order to the plenary session agenda, not without internal debate, given that the addition of the point was the subject of an initial refusal on Thursday 28 September by the two main political groups in Parliament during the Conference of Presidents meeting (see EUROPE 11874).
The First Vice President of the European Commission’s speech remained strictly within the remit designated by his institution since the beginning of the crisis. This highlights the need to respect the rule of law and therefore the constitution of a member state. He believes that that European democratic societies are based on three major principles, namely: democracy, respect for the rule of law and respect for human rights. Therefore he declared that, “the three need each other, they cannot exclude each other. You cannot use one against the other. If you remove one pillar then the others will fall too”. He then pointed out that the regional Catalan government’s organisation of the referendum did not respect the law and highlighted the decision of the Spanish Constitutional Court making this referendum illegal.
In this connection, according to the First Vice President, it is necessary to find a way of moving forward but this crisis was, above all, a crisis relating to the domestic policy of the country, which should be managed in line with “the constitutional order of Spain”. He repeated the Commission’s appeal for dialogue and added that the decision could only be made by the different parties concerned: Spanish citizens. In this connection, Mr Timmermans confirmed that the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, had been in contact with the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy and said that he had confidence in him that he would, “guarantee that the situation is resolved in the spirit of dialogue and in respect of the Spanish Constitution and fundamental rights of citizens”.
During his speech, Mr Timmermans repeated the message contained in the European Commission press release on Monday 2 October but which certain people consider as being too evasive. It condemns the violence without specifying which vioence and points out that it cannot be a political instrument. He did, however, emphasise that it was a “duty” of any government to maintain the rule of law “which, sometimes requires the proportionate use of force”.
Differences on form dialogue should take. The debate was highly selective and only the presidents of the group were able to speak, which some MEPs criticised beforehand. The political groups did not agree on how to develop dialogue and some considered that the question should be decided at a national level, as argued by the president of the EPP, Manfred Weber, from Germany, who referred to an “hispano-Hispanic” dialogue. Others consider that it was necessary for the European Union to make an intervention, as suggested by the copresident of the Greens/EFA, Ska Keller and the Vice President of the GUE/NGL, Patrick Le Hyaric (France). The President of the ALDE, Guy Verhofstadt, and his counterpart at the S&D, Gianni Pittella, remained evasive on the question. The former simply called for “inclusive dialogue” and the latter for a “dialogue”. Raymond Finch (EFDD, United Kingdom) went the furthest in his contribution and said that the only solution would be the organisation of a binding referendum on the lines of what the United Kingdom had done with Scotland in 2014.
Spanish position bolstered. Earlier in the day, one Spanish source close to the central government rejected any form of proposal for mediation. Addressing a press briefing, she asked, “mediation on the subject of what?”. According to the same Spanish source: no European citizen has voted except those in Catalonia. In their opinion, the president of the Catalan government is not calling for a dialogue. This same source also regretted the lack of alternative plans from Mr Puigdemont, the Catalan President. Our source was also confided that they had full confidence in the Commission to support the fundamental values of the EU. She also said that the European Commission had to be clear on three points: it has to highlight the need to respect the rule of law, reject any form of mediation and call for dialogue within a legal framework.
Catalonia’s expectations dampened. The statement by Mr Timmermans therefore fails to meet the expectations of the Catalan authorities, which called for European Union mediation under the leadership of the European Commission. Finally, the Permanent Representative of Catalonia informed a group of journalists that the regional government was working on a “European and non-European” solution (see EUROPE 11874).
As we go to press, the content of the declaration on Catalonia’s independence by the President of the Regional Government, Carles Puigdemont, was still not known and is planned for 21:00 hours today. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens and Solenn Paulic)