Dear Member of the European Parliament,

On the 9^th of March 2021, following a Spanish Supreme Court request, the European Parliament waived the parliamentary immunity of three Catalan MEPs – Carles Puigdemont, Toni Comín, and Clara Ponsatí – with over 42% of MEPs voting against or abstaining. This represents a new example of Spain’s repressive actions against the Catalan people’s political and social representatives.  

The mere fact that Spanish nationalist parties are over-represented in the European Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs that processed the request -including its Chair- and that the rapporteur of the case is a member of a sister party of Spanish far-right VOX, should be reason enough to question the legitimacy of a procedure used by the Spanish authorities to persecute political dissent.

Since autumn of 2017, the Spanish authorities have politically persecuted 3,300 peaceful activists and representatives associated with the Catalan independence movement. Spanish Courts have prevented three consecutive candidates from being invested as President of Catalonia through lawfare.

The Catalan people have always believed in the European project. However, the European institutions’ attitude since the referendum of October 2017 has been a constant source of disappointment for the Catalan people –of which a clear 52% supported pro-independence parties in the February 14th election– and above all, for all democrats.

We urge the EU institutions to correct Spain’s non-democratic attitude regarding Catalonia, which does not go in accordance with the European founding principles. The credibility and legitimacy of the European Union as an  integrating project based on fundamental rights and principles is at stake.

Read the full manifesto here.