On Tuesday 22 October, the European Parliament rejected by a large majority (109 votes to 301, with 21 abstentions) the request of the GUE/NGL and the Greens/EFA to open a debate without resolution calling for a declaration by the EU Council and the European Commission on the situation in Catalonia, following the conviction of Catalan political and civil society leaders.
The proposal was defended by Philippe Lamberts (Greens/EFA, Belgium) who called for a “political solution to a political problem” before MEPs. To which Spanish Social Democrat MEP Javier Moreno Sanchez replied that this was an internal Spanish problem, in which no parliament in the world has the right to intervene.
The resolution was supported en bloc by the GUE/NGL and the Greens/EFA, as well as a large contingent from the ID group (notably the French delegation), non-attached members of the Five Star Movement and the Brexit Party, as well as a handful of Social Democrats and members of the EPP. On the contrary, the proposal united the EPP, the S&D and Renew Europe against it.
Following the European elections, three Catalan candidates, although elected, were refused accreditation as MEPs because their elections were invalidated by the Spanish authorities (see EUROPE 12277/16). Recently, nine politicians and civil society activists were sentenced by the Spanish courts to up to 13 years in prison (see EUROPE 12348/23). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)