Brussels on blocked pro-indy websites: “Judges have ordered this”
EC spokesman refuses to link these measures to freedom of speech violations, rejecting comparisons "to Turkey"
The European Commission has nothing to say after Spain blocked several pro-independence websites. The domains blocked include the webpage of one of the biggest 'yes' campaigners, the Assemblea Nacional Catalana (ANC). According to Brussels, the measures are "legal” as per Spanish constitutional framework, and they do not raise concerns of violations of freedom of speech or of opinion.
"We respect the legal order and the constitutional framework within which all these measures have been taken," said on Tuesday the EC chief spokesman, Margaritis Schinas. "What is happening is according to the law, there are judges that have ordered this," he added, when pressed by journalists to comment on the issue. "These are measures taken in a specific context and the EC has no competences or say on what is happening under the constitution or legal order of member states," he insisted.
Schinas went on to say to journalists that they "might not be happy" with his answers, but that the Commission needs to "stick" to what it has been doing "for years", i.e. not interfering in "internal affairs."