Europe rejects calls over Catalan violence
Protests continue as election observers accuse Spain’s leaders of violating civil and human rights
The European Commission has refused to condemn Spanish police violence against supporters of Catalan independence in Barcelona. More than 800 were left injured in clashes, resulting in increasing calls for the EU to intervene but, instead, it said it had “trust” in the prime minister of Spain.
Hannah Strange
James Crisp
THE European Commission yesterday refused to condemn Spanish police violence against supporters of Catalan independence in Barcelona, as it expressed “trust” in the leadership of Spain’s prime minister.
The Guardia Civil fired rubber bullets into crowds and stormed polling stations as the violence escalated during Sunday’s illegal referendum vote. More than 800 were left injured after the clashes, resulting in increasing calls for the EU to intervene.
The top United Nations human rights official yesterday called on Spanish authorities to investigate thoroughly and impartially violence linked to Catalonia’s independence referendum, and to hold talks to resolve the secession issue. Carles Puigdemont, the Catalan president, said that the EU had a duty to protect the fundamental rights of those who voted.
“The EU commission may say this is just an ‘internal affair’, but basic rights have been violated,” he said in Barcelona after calling for the EU to sponsor political dialogue on the crisis. Mr Puigdemont announced the creation of a special commission to investigate the police violence, and demanded the immediate withdrawal of the thousands of National Police and Guardia Civil deployed to Catalonia ahead of the vote.
He appeared to step back from an immediate declaration of independence, however. “We do not want a traumatic rupture,” the Catalan leader said, on the eve of a general strike called by pro-independence groups and unions to raise pressure on Madrid.
Protests were staged across Catalonia yesterday over the police crackdown, which a team of international observers led by Dr Helena Catt, a Scottish election expert, said it had been “shocked” by. “We witnessed events that no election monitors ought to ever witness,” the team said as it condemned “violations of civil and human rights”.
The European Commission – selfstyled “guardian” of human rights – ignored calls to intervene in the crisis until noon yesterday. It then issued a statement that appalled those who had hoped for the bloc’s intervention.
“Under the Spanish constitution, yesterday’s vote in Catalonia was not legal,” Margaritis Schinas, the commission’s chief spokesman told reporters, referring to the suspension of the vote by Spain’s constitutional court.
Madrid continued to insist yesterday that Catalan leaders had forced the police crackdown, and said it would not flinch in its bid to prevent what it has described as a coup in Spain’s richest region. Rafael Catalá, the Spanish jus- tice minister, threatened the invocation of Article 155 – to suspend the autonomy of Catalonia – if its leaders declared independence. “[Article] 155 is there, we are going to use the full force of the law,” he said, even if “it could hurt us to use determined measures”.
Mr Schinas refused to explicitly condemn the violence by Spanish police, saying only: “We call on all relevant players to now move very swiftly from confrontation to dialogue. Violence can never be an instrument in politics.
“We trust the leadership of prime minister Mariano Rajoy to manage this difficult process in full respect of the Spanish Constitution and of the fundamental rights of citizens enshrined therein,” he added. The statement came in contrast to calls from the Organisation for Security and Coordination in Europe (OSCE), which demanded that Spanish authorities refrain from using excessive force and ensure that “any measures taken by law-enforcement agencies in the course of their duties respect fundamental rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression”.
Antonio Tajani, the president of the European Parliament, announced a debate on “constitution, the rule of law and fundamental rights in Spain” to be held today.
Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. Philip Hammond, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, spent much of his speech to the Conservative conference in Manchester reminding party representatives and the country of the dangers of Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party.
To do so it was necessary to look to the 1970s, the period when a Left-wing Labour government last ran the country – and the leaders of that administration were by no means as radical as those who run the party today. Inevitably, Mr Hammond was criticised for looking backwards; he was even apologetic for indulging in a “history lesson”. But he was right to do so. After last week’s revivalist rally in Brighton, the case for free markets and liberty has to be made all over again.
Mr Hammond made an important point. This is not about Conservative versus Labour values; this is a conflict between what had been the economic consensus under both parties for nearly 30 years and a Socialist economic model that has failed miserably wherever it has been implemented.
The battle of values was fought and won by the Right in the 1980s. Neither Tony Blair nor Gordon Brown reversed a single privatisation or repealed a single trade union law. The centre ground – the mainstream to which Mr Corbyn laid claim last week – had shifted to the Right. The Labour leader now proposes to abandon that consensus. Mr Hammond was correct to warn voters of the consequences of doing so.
With employment at record levels, the Chancellor had a good economic story to tell which belied Labour’s attempts to depict the UK as a failing nation. He was less sanguine about the prospects for the Brexit negotiations, but saw a bright future beyond “if we get this right”.
The Chancellor’s instinctive caution on Brexit is often contrasted with the more confident approach adopted by Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary. Both can be harnessed for the good of the country. Of course the talks are proving difficult; and the uncertainty over the UK’S future after leaving the EU in 2019 needs to be resolved as quickly as possible.
But as Mr Hammond said, the decision to withdraw has been taken and must be implemented. His prospectus for doing so can come across as too lugubrious. That is why Mr Johnson’s characteristic bullishness is needed – to reassure the millions of people who voted to leave the EU that they made the right decision.