Addressing an assembly of students in Luxembourg on Friday 13 October, the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, rejected any possibilities of playing a mediating role in the Catalonian crisis.
The former Luxembourg Prime Minister said, “I would like to explain why the Commission is not getting involved. We have received appeals from the whole world… to ask us: ‘Junker should be mediating”. He explained, that “he will not do it” because a single actor has requested it. In this case, Catalonia.
The President of the European Commission explained that intervening would provoke “considerable disagreements within the European Union”. He added that he had been a mediator on several occasions but always between member states.
Against a Union of “98 states in 15 years”
President Junker also said he was not in favour of Catalonia’s independence. “If we had to allow it… but this is ultimately not our business and the others would also do it to” he warned. He added, “I do not want it. I do not want a European Union consisting of 98 states over a 15 year period”. This situation would be impossible to manage for the President of the Commission. The current President believes that it is already “relatively difficult” to manage a Union of 28 states.
These ideas go further than the official position expressed up until now by the European Commission. Its spokesperson explained that up until now it had been restricted to emphasising that it involved, above all, a domestic matter, that the Catalan referendum did not respect the constitutional order in Spain and, ultimately, an independent Catalonia would have to go through an accession process to join the European Union (see EUROPE 11880).
Mr Juncker appears less in favour of Catalonia than during an interview on the Euronews Channel two weeks before the holding of the referendum. At the time he declared that the choice made by the Catalans should be taken into consideration. He then declared that, “it is obvious that if there is a ‘yes’ vote to Catalonia’s independence, we would respect this choice” (see EUROPE 11863).
If, in the unlikely hypothesis, Spain requested mediation from the European Commission, such an intervention would be in the eyes of certain observations, rather undesirable. As guardian of the treaties, the institution would not be sufficiently neutral to fulfil this role, as a governmental advisor explained to EUROPE earlier this week (see EUROPE 11878).
No role for the Council of Europe
The Council of Europe does not intend to play a mediating role, according to Daniel Holtgen, the spokesperson for its Secretary General. This is for the same reason: a request is needed from both parties to do so, which is not the case. He explained to us that Spain does not appear prepared to do this at all. On the other hand, the Venice Commission- even though it rejected the Catalan referendum (see EUROPE 11880) – is prepared to send experts to Spain in the event of constitutional reform, he added.
The lack of clarity therefore has persisted since the speech of the President of the Catalan Government, Carles Puigdemont, last Tuesday (see EUROPE 11880). The latter declared independence, whilst immediately suspending its effects, in order to open negotiations. The Spanish government finds this situation rather unclear and called on Barcelona to clarify its position on Monday 16 October at 10 o’clock. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)