pia ahrenkilde

The Spanish Government "cannot change its stance", stated Spanish Deputy PM on the day after Catalonia's independence supporters peacefully formed a colossal rally for the 3^rd consecutive year. Furthermore, the Director of Spain's Public Prosecution Office – appointed by the Spanish Government – threatened the Catalan President with "penal" actions if he carries on once the vote has been formally banned. The day before, 1.8 million people formed an 11km-long Catalan flag mosaic demanding to vote on the 9^th of November. "Citizens have the right to demonstrate but governments have an obligation to honour the law", stated the Deputy PM. Using a restrictive interpretation of the Constitution, Madrid has been insisting that it is "illegal" to hold such a vote. Besides, the European Commission refused to provide specific comments on the massive demonstration of European citizens, repeating it is "an internal issue".

The Spokesperson for the European Commission, Pia Ahrenkilde, was asked about Catalonia’s results from Sunday’s European Parliament elections. Ahrenkilde stated that “the EU is very much listening” to what is going on, but refused to make specific comments on “any individual national result”. She went on to say that, considering the results in the EU overall, “there is a lot of reflection to do by all European leaders and by all national leaders”. Turnout in Catalonia increased significantly, fuelled by the self-determination debate, going from 36.9% to 47.4%, whereas it dropped in most of Spain. Furthermore, self-determination parties won the elections in Catalonia, occupying 1^st, 2^nd and 4^th position and obtaining more than 60% of the vote. In addition, the Left-Wing Catalan Independence Party (ERC) won an election in Catalonia for the first time, obtaining 23.7% of the vote.

The referendum in Catalonia was on everyone’s mind at this Friday’s European Commission press conference in Brussels. 20 minutes of the conference were devoted entirely to the Catalan issue. The EC Spokesperson Pia Ahrenkilde confirmed that Catalonia’s self-determination vote remained “an internal matter for Spain”. Ahrenkilde did not wish to stray away from the official EU stand on the issue, despite the persistence of Catalan, Spanish and foreign journalists. Viviane Reding, the European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, also addressed the Catalan referendum issue this Friday. She explained that even though “it is true […] that the Spanish Constitution does not allow one region to break out”, she “hoped common sense imposes itself in Spain, in order to solve that problem”.