Lifting of immunity: The N-VA is not voting Puigdemont into prison

On Monday 8 March, at the request of the Spanish judiciary, the European Parliament voted to waive the immunity of MEPs Carles Puigdemont, Antoni Comin and Clara Ponsanti, advocates for the political independence of Catalonia. The N-VA delegation voted against the lifting of their immunity: “The pursuit of self-determination does not deserve exile or a decade behind bars,” MEP Assita Kanko said.

Assita Kanko and the other N-VA MEPs, Geert Bourgeois and Johan Van Overtveldt, voted against it because they see no reason for this political persecution. “We support the right of peoples to self-determination and to stand for it politically wherever and whenever they may be. This is primarily about the right to free speech. Criminal prosecution for organising a referendum is unacceptable.”

United in the pursuit of independence

Assita Kanko feels united with the Catalan independence movement: “There is nothing wrong with a political movement or party pursuing that goal by democratic means. We are also democrats and cannot understand how debating in a regional parliament, peacefully demonstrating or expressing an opinion or even organising a referendum can lead to many years of imprisonment in an EU Member State. All of us have also seen the excessive violence against the protesters.”

The relationship between Spain and Catalonia is very complex. The pursuit of independence is an outlet for old wounds and fault lines in Spanish history. The rivalry between Madrid and Barcelona is really about much more than football, Assita Kanko says. “So our N-VA group in the European Parliament is not concerned with the content of the conflict, but we cannot live with political persecution in the heart of Europe.”

Damaging to the reputation of the European Union

However, the reputation of the European Union is also adversely affected, according to Assita Kanko. “How can Europe continue to talk to Putin or elsewhere in the world about democracy, political and human rights with credibility? It then comes back to hit us like a boomerang.”

In purely legal terms, it may be a matter for the Spanish courts, but for Assita Kanko, the political consequences transcend Spanish borders. “It seems as if people stepped into a strict legalistic logic years ago that they can’t move on from now. It may well be that infringements of Spanish law can be invoked. Nevertheless, Belgian judges also found that not everything was legally consistent, and they did not grant the extradition request.”

Like “The Trial” by Kafka

“Our Catalan friends must feel like Jozef K. in Kafka’s ‘The Trial’, the plaything of an incomprehensible legal process. And separated from their partners, children and loved ones. Let us not forget that, either. I am calling on all my colleagues in the European Parliament, Flemish and others to join me in voting against lifting the immunity of Carles Puigdemont and his supporters,” Assita Kanko concludes.