EXCLUSIVE / The EU may be reluctant now but it will inevitably accept to mediate in the separation of Catalonia from Spain and the presence of the new Catalan state within the EU, Joan Maria Piqué told EURACTIV in an interview.
Joan Maria Piqué is the director of international communications for the Government of Catalonia.
He spoke to EURACTIV’s Senior Editor Georgi Gotev.
What are your plans? Is independence going to be declared on Monday?
We haven’t decided yet. A lot of things are under consideration. The transition law that was approved by the Catalan parliament is clear and we will fulfil it, but the president, the government and the parliament will decide how they accomplish what is stated in the law. On Monday the parliament will be in session, President [of the government] Puigdemont is called to explain to the chamber the results of last Sunday’s referendum, and then the parliament will decide.
In what terms is he going to explain the results? I’m asking because it looks like there is no majority of people who have voted for independence, given the turnout.
I have to disagree. The result is clear for us. Every analysis shows there is a majority for the independence of the country. I can understand your doubts, but they are not your responsibility, they are the responsibility of the brutal aggression by the Spanish government, who sent riot police to beat and humiliate, and to torture peaceful voters. Their only crime was that they wanted to cast a vote. This should be the shame of Europe. Of course, this is the shame of Spain. Nothing like that has ever happened in a Western democratic country – riot police to be sent to beat, not even peaceful demonstrators, but peaceful voters. People who were just queuing in front of a polling station and wanted to cast a vote. This should not be tolerated. Europe should take a stance. Every country, every leader should take a position so that this never happens again. Authoritarianism in Europe should not be tolerated.
The vote took part with normality in almost 95% of the polling stations, and the others suffered the aggression of the Spanish military police. The turnout at the places where there was no aggression was 50-60-70%. And the majority for independence was clear. And the Spanish government knew it was going to lose the referendum if it were to take place in normal conditions. This explains the harsh brutality of the Spanish police, the images are there for all to see, we don’t need to add anything to that.
I understand your way of presenting the case, but at the same time, the referendum is illegal according to the Spanish constitution…
