A black day for Europe

The verdicts handed down in the trial against the Catalan political prisoners are creating a huge amount of resentment, not least in our own party. The N-VA groups in the Flemish Parliament, the Chamber and the European Parliament respond with indignation. “If Europe accepts this, then it is today undermining important principles of the rule of law that the EU says it supports.”

On 1 October 2017, two million Catalans went to the polls, with a large majority choosing independence. Today, their leaders are having to pay the price for this expression of democracy, because the Spanish Supreme Court is sentencing nine of them implacably to sentences between nine and thirteen years.

N-VA group in the Flemish Parliament: “Fair trial was no option”

“After almost two years of them being remanded in custody and held in isolation, the verdict comes as no surprise. Already from day one, we knew that a fair trial was no option for the masters in Madrid. The censorship that went hand-in-hand with the trial beggared belief, with the Catalan broadcaster even being forbidden to use the terms “exile” and “political prisoner”. An international network of observers has already indicated that the trial was unfair and extremely non-adversarial. How can Europe tolerate that its standards are being deviated from in this way?”

N-VA group in the Chamber: “Embarrassed on behalf of Spanish justice”

“The Catalan movement had to be hit very hard because it had dared to take on the central authority of Madrid. The Spanish nationalists curled up into a proverbial cramp, were never able to make the accusation of rebellion stick, and therefore opted for the vaguer crime of sedition. I am embarrassed on behalf of Spanish justice,” say the N-VA MPs, who also indicated that they would be grilling Minister of Foreign Affairs Didier Reynders in this regard.

“Nine convictions, nine destroyed lives, but Madrid is no closer to the destruction of the Catalan movement. They think wrongly that ideas will also be disappearing behind bars. This evening, hundreds of thousands of Catalans will once again take to the streets. We in any case support them fully and will use every possibility we have as MPs to support them in their pursuit.”

N-VA group in the European Parliament: “Self-determination is a right, not a crime”

“This is the largest political trial in the EU in years, it is without equal and the European Commission is keeping quiet. In the Europe of the 21st century, self-determination should be a right, not a crime. The decision of this morning is a mockery of everything for which Europe should stand today. We can ask Commission President Juncker what we are actually still doing here if the right to debate in a parliament, to demonstrate peacefully or to express an opinion can lead to years of imprisonment in a member state of the EU. If Europe does not take action, then it has lost all credibility in the field of human rights. We are calling on the outgoing Commission to express its opinion in no uncertain terms against this disgrace for democracy.”