Catalonië in de media

Nieuws uit diverse bronnen: daar zijn veel buitenlandse media bij, omdat de Nederlandse media naar verhouding erg weinig over Catalonië berichten.

 

Carles Puigdemont: “Aanvaarden we chantage nu als een nieuwe politieke strategie in Europa?”

27 december 2020 – Het voorbije jaar was er een om te vergeten. Of net niet? De coronacrisis domineerde uiteraard het hele jaar lang het nieuws, van Wuhan tot vaccin. Maatschappelijke en politieke breuklijnen kwamen bloot te liggen of werden scherpgesteld. We werden geregeerd met volmachten, en dan door Vivaldi. De economie en het onderwijs kregen een klap. De volksgezondheid nog meer. Gloort er licht aan het einde van de tunnel? Wordt 2020 een jaar voor de geschiedenisboeken? Doorbraak blikt terug met bevoorrechte getuigen.

Nazisympathieën in Spaanse leger baren zorgen

23 december 2020 – De voorbije weken hebben een ongemakkelijke waarheid aangetoond: het Spaanse leger –althans een deel daarvan– is wars van een democratische cultuur, zelfs nu generaal Franco al bijna een halve eeuw dood is. De progressieve regering in Madrid is het voornaamste doelwit van de militaire ultra’s. Toch doet premier Pedro Sanchez alsof er niets aan de hand is.

Puigdemonts Anwalt muss vor Gericht

20 december 2020 – Der Anwalt des im belgischen Exil lebenden katalanischen Ex-Regierungschefs Carles Puigdemont muss jetzt selbst vor Gericht. Gonzalo Boye wird vom spanischen Audiencia Nacional, dem Sondergerichtshof für Terrorismus und organisiertes Verbrechen, vorgeworfen, ‘kommerzielle Operationen’ entworfen und ‘Dokumente mit dem Ziel von Transaktionen gefertigt’ zu haben.

How Spain, allegedly, came close to being invaded by Russia

9 december 2020 – The latest far-fetched accusation the Spanish state directed at the leaders of the Catalan independence movement could well be from a cheap spy novella.
Europe could have looked strikingly different today if Catalan politicians took Russia up on its alleged offer to help Catalonia achieve independence in 2017 – at least according to the Spanish authorities.

Zware slag voor gevangen voormalige politiek leiders in Catalonië

5 december 2020 – Het Spaanse hooggerechtshof spreekt haar veto uit tegen de versoepeling van het gevangenisregime van de Catalaanse ex-leiders die schuldig werden bevonden aan opruiing tijdens het illegale referendum over Catalaanse afscheiding op 1 oktober 2017.

Spain marks 42 years since return of democracy as retired officers dissent

6 december 2020 – Spain has celebrated the 42nd anniversary of the constitution that ushered the country back to democracy following the end of the Franco dictatorship, as some former members of the armed forces made inflammatory declarations.
The prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said the 1978 constitution was ‘the greatest success of our collective history’ and hailed 42 years of ‘peace, co-existence and freedom’.
A group of 271 former military personnel, however, marked the anniversary by publishing a manifesto attacking the Socialist-led coalition government, complaining that Spain’s unity was under threat from Catalan separatists and bemoaning what they termed the ‘deterioration of democracy’.

Spain’s Supreme Court revokes prison rights of Catalan political prisoners

4 december 2020 – Spain’s Supreme Court has revoked the ‘low category’ awarded by prison authorities to nine Catalan political prisoners, thus canceling the penitentiary privileges that allowed them daytime and weekend leaves. Condemned for the crime of sedition and sentenced to serve between 9 and 13 years in prison for their role in the 2017 independence referendum, the nine political leaders and activists were granted the most lenient penitentiary category last summer.

12 French MPs want ‘climate of opinion’ to resolve Catalan political conflict

30 november 2020 – Twelve members of the French parliament want to generate the ‘necessary climate of opinion’ to resolve the political conflict between the Catalan and Spanish authorities, according to Roger Torrent, the speaker in the Catalan parliament.

‘Wordt Didier Reynders de redder van de Spaanse rechtsstaat?’

28 november 2020 – 'Bij uitleveringen aan Spanje kunnen maar al te vaak juridische vraagtekens worden geplaatst. Zeker als het gaat om tegenstanders van het unitaire Spanje', schrijft Joris Nachtergaele (N-VA), die eurocommissaris voor Justitie Didier Reynders vraagt om duidelijkheid te scheppen.

Prosecutor’s talk at Ciudadanos event: more fuel for Puigdemont’s defence

24 november 2020 – An address on the crimes of sedition and rebellion by the Spanish Supreme Court prosecutor Javier Zaragoza, organized by the European political group of Spanish party Ciudadanos (Cs), has provided some additional material for Catalan president in exile, Carles Puigdemont, in his defence against Spanish justice's request that his immunity from prosecution as an MEP be lifted.

Hate speech against Catalans growing over independence, UN told

21 november 2020 – HATE speech against Catalans is spreading in Spain as pro-independence voices are protrayed as "terrorists, supremacists, racists or traitors", a UN meeting has been told.

New calls from UN and Council of Europe to release Catalan activist Jordi Cuixart

16 oktober 2020 – Leading defenders of human rights at the UN and the Council of Europe have today registered protests over the three years of imprisonment which have now been endured by the Catalan pro-independence activist Jordi Cuixart, and they also raised concerns about the conditions under which he is now held.

Puigdemont: There is a coup in process, the Spanish king at its head, judges behind

5 oktober 2020 – Three years after the speech of Spanish king Felipe VI in response to the Catalan independence referendum, the exiled president of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, addresses the effect of that discourse in an interview with ElNacional.cat.

Human chain protest called for Friday against Felipe VI's presence in Barcelona

7 oktober 2020 – Spain’s king Felipe VI is to visit Barcelona this Friday morning and there will be protests. Pro-independence groups, political parties and unions have announced an action to receive the Spanish monarch: a human chain will be constructed running from the city’s Estació de França, venue for the event that the king is to attend​, to the Columbus Monument, at the seaward end of the Rambla.

MEPs in Brussels unfurl the banner for which Catalonia’s president was sacked

7 oktober 2020 – Outside the European Parliament in Brussels, twenty-one MEPs have unfurled the same banner in support of political prisoners and exiles that Catalonia's president Quim Torra hung on his government's palace and for which he was disqualified from office. European parliamentarians who joined the protest in support of Torra and the jailed Catalan politicians included Corsican MEP François Alfonsi, Irish representative Clare Daly and Slovenian Milan Brglez, as well as others including the Catalan MEPs from the JxCat and ERC parties. The Spanish state’s repression should have no place in the EU, tweeted JxCat.

Clara Ponsatí: Spanish weapons must not go to this Caucasus conflict, Mr Borrell

7 oktober 2020 – Catalan MEP Clara Ponsatí has ​​called on the EU's high representative for foreign policy, Josep Borrell, to stop Spain from selling arms to Turkey and recalled that the state is the main European arms provider to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's regime. This must be stopped by the Commission, Mr Borrell, she said to the EU foreign minister, who was present at the European Parliament's plenary session this Wednesday.

Catalan independence activist Tamara Carrasco, found not guilty after 30 month ordeal

6 oktober 2020 – A Barcelona court has acquitted a Catalan independence activist, Tamara Carrasco, on a charge of inciting public disorder. Behind a news story which sounds relatively minor, is a thirty-month ordeal suffered by a woman from Viladecans, near Barcelona, who was originally accused of rebellion and terrorism and for a year was judicially prohibited from leaving her suburban town.

University of Barcelona breached rights by speaking out on 2019 verdicts, says court

5 oktober 2020 – The University of Barcelona has been convicted for the manifesto it published when it learned of the verdicts and sentences against the Catalan pro-independence leaders in last year's Supreme Court trial, which denounced the ‘authoritarian drift’ of the powers of the Spanish state, claimed the right of self-determination of Catalonia and called for the immediate release of the prisoners.

Catalanen vervroegd naar de stembus

30 september 2020 – Opnieuw moet Catalonië vervroegd naar de stembus. Want weer is een premier afgezet door een beslissing uit Madrid. Ditmaal van het Spaanse hooggerechtshof.

Catalaanse regeringsleider moet aftreden van Spaanse hooggerechtshof

29 september 2020 – Het Spaanse hooggerechtshof heeft bepaald dat de separatistische regeringsleider van Catalonië, Quim Torra, moet aftreden en anderhalf jaar geen politieke functie meer mag bekleden. Het hof bevestigde de straf die vorig jaar werd uitgesproken door een lagere rechter.

Quim Torra: Spain’s top court bans Catalonia leader from office

28 september 2020 – Spain’s top court has upheld a decision to ban Catalonia’s separatist leader Quim Torra from holding public office. The case stems from Mr Torra’s refusal to take down a pro-independence symbol from a government building ahead of last year’s general election. He was found guilty of disobeying a court order to remove the banner, and will now be forced to stand down.

Catalan leader’s ban on holding office upheld by Spain’s top court

28 september 2020 – Quim Torra, the separatist regional president of Catalonia, has been banned from public office for 18 months after Spain’s supreme court upheld the sentence of a lower court that had found him guilty of disobedience for displaying pro-independence symbols on public buildings during last year’s general election campaign.

Spain deposes Catalan president Quim Torra

28 september 2020 – The Spanish repression comes to no end and the Catalan presidency has been ousted once again only three years after the 1-O independence referendum in 2017 and the subsequent autonomy suspension. The Spanish Supreme Court has confirmed the one and a half years sentence of disqualification against President Quim Torra for refusing to withdraw a freedom of expression banner at the Government headquarters.

Catalan president to be ousted as Spanish court upholds disobedience verdict

28 september 2020 – Spain’s Supreme Court confirmed on Monday that Catalan president Quim Torra should be removed from office as he is guilty of disobedience for displaying signs in solidarity with the jailed pro-independence leaders on public buildings during an electoral period last year.

Catalaanse regeringsleider uit ambt gezet, vrees voor gewelddadige protesten

28 september 2020 – Quim Torra, de separatistische regeringsleider van de Spaanse regio Catalonië, is wegens ongehoorzaamheid uit zijn ambt gezet. Het Spaanse hooggerechtshof bevestigde maandag een veroordeling van vorig jaar.

Catalaanse leider Torra afgezet, weg vrij voor vervroegde verkiezingen

28 september 2020 – De Catalaanse regiopresident Quim Torra wordt per onmiddellijk uit zijn ambt gezet. Ook krijgt de Catalaanse leider een boete voor het ophangen van een spandoek op het balkon van het deelstaatbestuur tijdens de verkiezingen van 2019.

Spanish judiciary clashes with executive over king's absence from Barcelona event

24 september 2020 – The absence of Spanish king Felipe VI from the graduation ceremony for new judges in Barcelona, ​​this Friday, has led to a head-on clash between the country's judiciary and the Pedro Sánchez government. Judge Carlos Lesmes, president of both the Supreme Court and the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), has decided that during his speech at the event he will reflect the discontent of the senior judicial organ and the profession.

‘Processing’ of requests to pardon the Catalan political prisoners is to begin

23 september 2020 – The Spanish government has, somewhat quietly, announced today that it already has the requests to pardon the Catalan political prisoners on the table. And it says it's not just going to slip them back into a drawer. That’s what the minister of justice claimed in this Wednesday’s parliamentary question session in Madrid, in response to JxCat's Laura Borràs.

UN report lists Spain among countries that ignored human rights rulings in 2019

19 september 2020 – The annual report of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has presented Spain with an official reminder that neither of its two 2019 recommendations to the country have been implemented: in two separate reports, the group requested the immediate release of seven of the nine Catalan political prisoners.

Spanish Supreme Court should consult European law on Torra case, lawyer argues

17 september 2020 – Catalan president Quim Torra's defence team, led by lawyer Gonzalo Boye, today urged the Spanish Supreme Court to consult European justice on the question of his disqualification from office. Boye was representing his client at the appeal hearing held this Thursday in the criminal chamber of Spain’s high court.

Spain’s ex-PM Rajoy to be investigated in case of Andorran bank and ‘American friend’

15 september 2020 – A court in the small European country of Andorra is to investigate former Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy and some members of his government in relation to coercion accusations, in a case which stretches all the way to the US government.

Spanish police case against ‘Tsunami’ protesters: a lorry, a router and a SIM card

15 september 2020 – The Spanish police investigation into last year's Tsunami Democràtic protests is hanging by a thread. The Civil Guard is hunting for an organizer of the France-Spain motorway border blockade. An act which, according to the Spanish Penal Code, can only be classified as disorderly behaviour and property damage, and which, apart from the surprise it caused and the transport chaos it generated, did not go any further.

EU Parliament will consider new Puigdemont protection request after Spanish claims

14 september 2020 – The president of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, announced this afternoon to the plenary of the European Parliament that he has decided that Carles Puigdemont's request for the protection of his immunity as an MEP - in the face of possible criminal proceedings being taken against him by a Spanish court - will be referred to the parliament's Committee on Legal Affairs.

Toni Strubell, Núria Bassa – China and Spain: ‘Re-Educating’ Political Prisoners

18 augustus 2020 – When focussing on the concept of the re-education or ideological “brainwashing” of political prisoners, it is generally in reference to the treatment bestowed on Uyghur prisoners in China or US prisoners in the Korean war. However, there are convincing grounds to believe that Spain’s notorious Supreme Court is currently involved in seeking similar forms of brainwashing for Catalan independentist prisoners – albeit of a more subtle nature – to make them renounce their ideology. Is Spain violating international treaties that demand the ideological inviolability of political prisoners? It may seem like a local matter to some, but this should be a matter of concern to the liberal democratic EU. It certainly would be if it were occurring in Poland or Hungary.

Prosecutors also ask Supreme Court to close door on Catalan prisoners' work leave

29 juli 2020 – The Spanish prosecutors who worked for the conviction of the nine Catalan political prisoners have now asked the Supreme Court to bar the way to them returning to the work leave regimes they were granted at the beginning of this year. This, after a judge yesterday had already provisionally stripped them of leave provisions while the merits of their "third-level" semi-liberty regime are being reconsidered, in response to another request by prosecutors. Pro-independence prisoners Quim Forn, Jordi Cuixart, Raül Romeva, Oriol Junqueras and Jordi Sànchez had already returned to their cells last night, accompanied to the prison gates by crowds of supporters.

Spanish justice locks up Catalan independence leaders again, cancelling leave regime

28 juli 2020 – Spanish justice has decided to lock them up properly again. The penitentiary surveillance judge at Catalonia's Lledoners prison has today ordered that several of the convicted pro-independence leaders have to return to a full custodial jail regime, after her decision to suspend the work leave provisions and open prison arrangements that they have been granted recently. The prisoners have returned to jail this evening, and won't be let out again at least until an application made today by prosecutors has been heard. This development comes as a result of a ruling by the Spanish Supreme Court last Thursday in relation to the work leave granted to one of the Catalan political prisoners, former parliamentary speaker Carme Forcadell, and the same doctrine is now being applied to others.

Spain’s internal espionage denounced: never before seen in democratic Europe

28 juli 2020 – They were spied on by their own country - something "never before seen in democratic Europe". The speaker of the Catalan Parliament, Roger Torrent, and the leader of the opposition on the Barcelona City Council, Ernest Maragall, have denounced to the European and global institutions - and to the human rights group Amnesty International - the internal espionage that they were the targets of through the hacking of their mobile phones. Below, their letters in English explaining what went on.

In Catalonië leven we in voortdurende stress

26 juli 2020 – De EU behandelt het als een interne Spaanse kwestie en weigert er zich mee bemoeien, terwijl het Spaans nationalisme alle aanvaardbare grenzen te buiten gaat.

Òmnium takes legal action against Spain's Juan Carlos I on corruption issue

16 juli 2020 – Major Catalan cultural association Òmnium Cultural has launched a legal and international offensive against the abuse of powers in the Spanish state and has placed the Crown as its first objective. Òmnium president Marcel Mauri announced this Friday that the organization has urged the Swiss government to block the accounts held by Spanish king emeritus Juan Carlos I in that country, and that today the group has filed a criminal complaint against the former monarch in Spain's Supreme Court for offences of corruption, fraud and money laundering.

Onthuld: Spaanse spionage tegen Catalaanse politici

15 juli 2020 – The Guardian onthulde gisteren, na internationaal onderzoek, het zoveelste bewijs van de politieke oorlog van Spaanse overheidsdiensten tegen Catalaanse politici en onafhankelijkheidsactivisten. Door dit onderzoek werd duidelijk dat de mobiele telefoon van Roger Torrent (links-republikeinse ERC), voorzitter van het Catalaans parlement, en andere Catalaanse politici gehackt werd door middel van spyware die enkel aan overheidsdiensten wordt verkocht. De Spaanse regering waste haar handen onmiddellijk in onschuld, maar ondertussen lekte uit dat de Spaanse geheime dienst CNI wel degelijk klant is van het bedrijf dat de software verkoopt. Een zoveelste aanval op politieke vertegenwoordigers van de Catalaanse minderheid.

‘Catalaanse parlementsvoorzitter slachtoffer van spionageaanval’

14 juli 2020 – De voorzitter van het Catalaanse parlement en twee andere politici die voor Catalaanse onafhankelijkheid zijn, zijn vermoedelijk het doelwit geworden van een spionageaanval. Hun mobiele telefoons werden volgens de Spaanse krant El País en de Britse krant The Guardian besmet met spionagesoftware van het Israëlische NSO Group.

Telefoon voorzitter regionale Catalaanse parlement afgeluisterd met NSO-spyware

14 juli 2020 – De voorzitter van het regionale Catalaanse parlement blijkt te zijn afgeluisterd met geavanceerde spionagesoftware op zijn mobiele telefoon, melden dagbladen El País en The Guardian vandaag. Het zou de eerste keer zijn dat een Europese regering deze technologie inzet tegen binnenlandse politici.

Spanish court says no to lockdown of Catalan city

13 juli 2020 – A local court in Catalonia refused to endorse a strict lockdown that would have affected around 200,000 people in and around the city of Lleida, which has experienced a spike in coronavirus infections.

Coronavirus | Jails refuse to let Catalan political prisoners go home for lockdown

2 april 2020 – Prison treatment boards have ruled out allowing the Catalan pro-independence political prisoners to spend the coronavirus lockdown in confinement at home, rather than in prison.
The decision comes after the Catalan government's justice ministry asked for an assessment on the option of releasing prisoners to their homes and thus reducing the prison populations during the confinement period.

Spanish court's threats over Covid-19 prisoner releases denounced to the EU and UN

1 april 2020 – The UN and the EU have been urged to take action against Spain's Supreme Court following a controversial step it has taken which may have breached both the separation of powers and the human rights of people vulnerable to coronavirus. On Tuesday, the court published a strongly-worded message aimed at Catalan prison officials to make them think twice about releasing the jailed Catalan pro-independence leaders on humanitarian grounds during the coronavirus pandemic. Now, both the European Commission and the United Nations have been asked to investigate the judicial action.

Spain’s Supreme Court pushes back against idea of sending Catalan prisoners home

31 maart 2020 – Spain’s Supreme Court has reacted quickly to assert its authority after it emerged this Tuesday morning that the Catalan pro-independence political prisoners might be allowed to spend the coronvirus lockdown period confined in their homes instead of the prison. The court, which last October sentenced the nine politicians and civil society leaders to long jail terms for sedition and misuse of public funds, has made it clear that it is keeping a close watch on the decision making process on the pro-independence leaders and will take action if necessary.

Retired Spanish king Juan Carlos, investigated for $100 million Swiss bank account

4 maart 2020 – Swiss public prosecutors are investigating a 100 million dollar bank account held by Spain's king emeritus Juan Carlos I in Geneva, according to the Swiss newspaper Tribune de Genève. This money allegedly has its origin in a donation made in 2007 by the Saudi royal house's finance ministry to the beneficiary of the account. That account, in the Mirabaud bank, is in the name of the Lucum Foundation, a Panamanian entity whose sole beneficiary is Juan Carlos I.

Catalan prisoner Raül Romeva starts work leave: My commitment is intact

2 maart 2020 – After 741 days behind bars, Raül Romeva has returned to work. Just after eleven this Monday morning, the foreign minister of the 2017 Catalan government walked out of a windswept Lledoners jail with a beaming smile. His wife, member of the European Parliament Diana Riba (ERC), was waiting for him. Romeva will be acting as an adviser and evaluator on tasks in relation to the peace accords that ended the Bosnian war. Tomorrow, it will be Oriol Junqueras taking that same walk out of the prison.

La victoire à l'extérieur de Puigdemont

1 maart 2020 – A Perpignan, devant plus de 100 000 partisans de l'indépendance, le président destitué a lancé la campagne des prochaines élections régionales avec un discours dur, excluant tout dialogue avec Madrid.

Perpinyà flooded by independence supporters as Puigdemont returns

29 februari 2020 – Tens of thousands of people - more than 200.000 according to organizers, and 110.000 according to the police - have flooded Perpinyà this Saturday. From early in the morning they have filled streets and accesses to the city and have been concentrating on the esplanade of the Parc de les Exposicions, where a blazing sun has been shining since noon. Northern Catalonia has welcomed Catalan president in exile Carles Puigdemont, and his ministers Toni Comín and Clara Ponsatí in the most overwhelming event organised so far by the pro-independence movement outside the borders of the Spanish state. As if he were a rock star, according to Europe 1.

Puigdemont gevierd als een popster in Perpignan

29 februari 2020 – Carles Puigdemont, de voormalige Catalaanse leider die al meer dan twee jaar in ballingschap leeft in België, is zaterdag in Perpignan in het zuiden van Frankrijk onthaald als een popster. Er daagden zowat 100.000 aanhangers op, de organisatoren hebben het zelfs over 150.000 aanwezigen. Het is voor het eerst sinds Puigdemont eind 2017 Catalonië ontvluchtte na een onafhankelijkheidsreferendum, dat hij zich zo dicht bij zijn thuisland begeeft. Perpignan ligt op amper 40 kilometer van de Spaanse grens.

MEP Puigdemont and President Torra greeted by Perpignan mayor

29 februari 2020 – The former Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, and his successor, Quim Torra, were greeted in Perpignan city council by its mayor, Jean-Marc Pujol, on Saturday morning.
Exiled leader Puigdemont, now MEP, will feature in a thousand-strong political event in the capital of the so-called French Catalonia or Northern Catalonia, an area belonging to Catalonia until 1659, when Spain ceded it to France.

Jenseits der Grenze

29 februari 2020 – Der ehemalige katalanische Regierungschef Puigdemont spricht vor Zehntausenden Anhängern. Er hält am Ziel der Unabhängigkeit von Spanien fest.

The cavern of the Central Electoral Commission

28 februari 2020 – There is no single word that sums up the sensation of shame and disrepute attached to Spain's Central Electoral Commission, which on Thursday saw the little prestige that it has blown to pieces when it was revealed that one of its members, the administrative law professor at Barcelona's Pompeu Fabra University, Andrés Betancor, was on the payroll of the Ciudadanos (Cs) party. To put it bluntly: in the morning he was paid to prepared the complaints made by Cs to the electoral commission, and in the afternoon he sat on the commission and defended the position of the party led by Albert Rivera and Inés Arrimadas.

Torra to take legal action against electoral board member on payroll of Cs party

27 februari 2020 – Quim Torra is to take legal action after it was revealed today that Andrés Betancor, ex-member of a key Spanish electoral body whose decisions were at the centre of the Catalan president's disqualification from public office, was also receiving a salary from the Ciudadanos (Cs) political party as an advisor. Torra will file a complaint for bribery, malfeasance and/or electoral impropriety against Betancor, former member of the Central Electoral Commission.

Meritxell Serret: eindelijk een politieke oplossing voor een politiek probleem

27 februari 2020 – Meritxell Serret, vertegenwoordiger van de Catalaanse regering bij de EU, is gematigd optimistisch over de dialoog. Gisteren vond de startmeeting plaats van de veelbesproken en langverwachte dialoog tussen de Spaanse centrale regering en de Catalaanse regionale regering. Serret houdt alle opties open, en is tegelijk optimistisch. Het feit alleen al dat Madrid erkent dat er een politiek probleem is, betekent een ongelooflijke verandering in de mindset van de Spaanse politici.

Pro-independence event in Perpinyà will be ‘the start of the return’, predicts Comín

21 februari 2020 – Catalan MEP and exiled government minister Toni Comín has said that the rally to be held on February 29th in Perpinyà, in which he will take part along with fellow pro-independence MEPs Carles Puigdemont and Clara Ponsatí, will be the beginning of their ability to ‘come home’.

Spaanse framing: Catalaanse indepes zijn supremacisten

19 februari 2020 – Om de zoveel tijd is het opnieuw van dat: in Spanje ontstaat een mediarel omwille van een uitspraak van een Catalaans pro-onafhankelijkheidspoliticus. Dikwijls gaat het over de Catalaanse taal en nieuwgekomen Catalanen of migranten die uit de rest van Spanje komen. De rode lijn: verwachten dat die nieuwkomers Catalaans spreken is racisme, Catalaans supremacisme en dergelijk fraais.

Catalan activists Cuixart and Sànchez, free to leave prison during the day

7 februari 2020 – Decision taken by the prisoner supervision board at Lledoners jail: Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixart have been granted permission to leave the penitentiary during the day. From morning till evening on weekdays, on an ongoing basis. The two Catalan pro-independence activists, both serving nine year sentences for sedition for their role in the events surrounding the 2017 independence referendum, will only have to return to Lledoners prison in central Catalonia at night.

Catalaanse leider steunt Spaanse regering vanuit de cel:
Amnestie is nodig om dit op te lossen

4 februari 2020 – Voor zijn rol bij het onafhankelijkheidsreferendum werd de Catalaanse leider Oriol Junqueras veroordeeld tot 13 jaar cel. Daarna hielp hij de linkse Spaanse regering aan een meerderheid. Vanuit de gevangenis geeft hij een toelichting.

City of Madrid permits a reenactment of Spanish Empire’s brutal Flanders armies

25 januari 2020 – Madrid's city council has given permission for a camp to be set up in the city on January 31st to recreate Spain's historic - and bloody - Tercios of Flanders.
The Tercios were military infantry units, which from the 16th century on embodied the military power of the Spanish empire in the heart of Europe. However, this was not an army as we understand it today, but rather an international legion grouping volunteer soldiers together with a core of paid professionals.

Quim Torra blijft, wat Madrid ook wil

24 januari 2020 – De Spaanse Electorale Commissie had eerder al beslist dat Torra uit zijn ambt ontzet diende te worden. Het Catalaanse parlement – de independentistische meerderheidspartijen, gesteund door de links-populisten — stond echter op zijn soevereine strepen. En dus wisselde de Electorale Commissie het geweer van schouder. Torra moest niet uit zijn ambt ontzet worden, zijn parlementszetel werd vacant verklaard. Ook dan reageerde het bureau van het parlement, voorgezeten door Roger Torrent (ERC), negatief op. Als spreekbuis van het soevereine Catalaanse volk, weigert het parlement zich neer te leggen bij de beslissing van een Spaans administratief orgaan.

The Catalan Crisis Threatens to Reopen a Debate That the EU’s Power Brokers Thought They Had Long Ago Quashed

23 januari 2020 – Though it is largely forgotten today, there was during the late 80s and early 90s a vigorous debate in numerous sectors of European life about whether the EU would be best structured as a Union of Regions or as a Union of States.

Catalaanse separatist Oriol Junqueras niet langer Europarlementslid

10 januari 2020 – Het mandaat van de opgesloten Catalaanse separatist Oriol Junqueras als Europarlementslid is op 3 januari ten einde gekomen. Dat heeft Europees parlementsvoorzitter David Sassoli vrijdagavond meegedeeld. Het Spaanse gerecht vroeg vrijdag ook aan het Europees Parlement om de onschendbaarheid van de gewezen Catalaanse minister-president Carles Puigdemont op te heffen. 

Catalan government ‘prepared’ to transport Junqueras to Strasbourg

8 januari 2020 – Whether by order of the Supreme Court or ‘by other mechanisms’. Catalan presidency minister and spokesperson Meritxell Budó has said her government ‘is prepared and will be diligent’ to transport imprisoned former vice-president Oriol Junqueras to Strasbourg to attend the European Parliament.

Spanish far-right party Vox pulls no punches attacking the European Parliament

6 januari 2020 – Far-right party Vox is pulling no verbal punches in attacking the European Parliament. Why? Its decision to recognise Catalan politicians Oriol Junqueras, Carles Puigdemont and Toni Comín as MEPs.
On the official Twitter account of its European parliamentary party, it wrote: ‘The European Parliament is abusing its power and breaking all its rules in its new challenge to Spain. And the separation of powers, the principle of subsidiarity and our sovereignty go out the window.’

European Parliament goes against Spain and recognises Catalan politicians as MEPs

6 januari 2020 – The European Parliament has decided to recognise imprisoned Catalan politician Oriol Junqueras as an MEP, over opposition in Spain. In a statement this Monday, the Parliament says that in the ‘plenary sitting of 13 January 2020, the European Parliament will take note of the election as Members of the European Parliament’ of Junqueras, as well as Carles Puigdemont and Toni Comín.

‘Spaanse kiesraad ontneemt opvolger Puigdemont zetel in regioparlement’

3 januari 2020 – Joaquim 'Quim' Torra, de president van Catalonië, moet zijn zetel in het regioparlement opgeven van de Spaanse kiesraad, melden Spaanse media vrijdag.
Volgens onder meer El Mundo en El País wordt Torra door de Spaanse kiesraad gedwongen om zijn positie op te geven omdat hij vorig jaar weigerde een politiek spandoek te verwijderen van een Catalaans regeringsgebouw.

België levert Puigdemont niet uit, extreemrechts Vox woedend

3 januari 2020 – De Spaanse extreemrechtse partij Vox heeft België een ‘mislukte staat en vrijhaven van coupplegers en terroristen’ genoemd, nadat een Brusselse onderzoeksrechter donderdag besloot dat het uitleveringsproces tegen de Catalaanse separatist Carles Puigdemont en zijn voormalige minister Toni Comín moet worden opgeschort.

Spanje krijgt voor het eerst coalitieregering dankzij Catalaanse separatisten

2 januari 2020 – De Catalaanse links-republikeinse, separatistische partij ERC heeft een voortzetting van de Spaanse regering onder leiding van socialist Pedro Sánchez mogelijk gemaakt. Daardoor krijgt Spanje voor het eerst in 44 jaar een coalitieregering.

België schort uitleveringsproces Catalaan Puigdemont op

2 januari 2020 – Het uitleveringsproces tegen de voormalige Catalaanse premier Carles Puigdemont is uitgesteld, zo is donderdag bekendgemaakt. De zaak was eerder al uitgesteld tot februari.
De beslissing heeft te maken met het feit dat het EU-hof vindt dat Puigdemont en de veroordeelde Oriol Junqueras immuniteit zouden moeten hebben omdat ze zijn verkozen in het Europees Parlement, meldt het Belgische persbureau Belga.

 

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