The PSOE votes against pointing out Puigdemont and the amnesty in the text although it approves the final resolution
The European Parliament has denounced this Thursday in a resolution the Russian interference during the independence process in Catalonia, pointing directly to the contacts of the former president of the Generalitat and current MEP of Junts, Carles Puigdemont, with former Russian spies in 2017, and has demanded an investigation internal affairs of the European Parliament as well as for the authorities in Spain to effectively investigate the connections of Catalan separatism with the Kremlin.
The resolution approved with 433 votes in favor, 56 against and 18 abstentions denounces Russian manipulation in democratic processes in Europe, and among other things, points out the connections between Catalan separatism and Moscow. The text has had the support of PP, PSOE, Ciudadanos and Vox, while ERC, Unidas Podemos and Junts have rejected it and the PNV has abstained, in a vote in which Puigdemont did not participate.
The European Parliament, in particular, expresses its “deep concern” about the alleged relations between the Catalan secessionists and the Kremlin and points to the “large-scale disinformation campaigns that Russia has carried out in Catalonia”, as well as “the intense contacts and the number of meetings between Russian agents and representatives of the independence movement.
In this sense, it calls on the competent judicial authorities to “effectively investigate the connections of Members of the European Parliament allegedly associated with the Kremlin and Russia’s attempts at destabilization and interference in the EU.”
At the same time, several amendments have been approved that point directly to Puigdemont for his alleged meetings with Russian envoys within the framework of the Catalan process, and which the PSOE has rejected although it has not managed to stop it.
Thus, at the proposal of the PP, one has been approved that makes specific reference to the former president of the Generalitat, indicating that information from various investigative journalists suggests that he met with former Russian diplomat Nikolau Sadovnikov on the eve of the illegal independence referendum of October 2017. This mention is in line with the investigation of the judicial case in a Barcelona court that points to contacts between independence leaders and former Russian diplomats.
Meanwhile, Ciudadanos has introduced another reference to Puigdemont in the text by requesting that the “matters of the Catalan MEPs” be referred to the Advisory Council of the Code of Conduct, the internal body of the European Parliament that is already investigating the accusations against the Latvian MEP Tatjana Zdanoka for collaborating for two decades with the Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia.
Also at the request of the ‘orange’ party, the text includes the amnesty proposed by the Government of Pedro Sánchez to the Catalan independentists, insisting that representatives of the independence movement “who have maintained relations with personalities close to the Kremlin” demand that “they be granted an amnesty for his alleged crimes.
The social democratic group as a whole has voted against these amendments promoted by the right, adding their votes to the left and the greens, where ERC is part, although the 200 votes they have garnered have not been insufficient to reject these amendments, approved by ‘popular’, liberals, conservatives and extreme right.
COMPLAINT OF CONTACTS WITH RUSSIA OF SALVINI, LE PEN OR BREXIT
Likewise, the approved resolution singles out other European political forces for their alleged links with Russian espionage. Apart from the Dzanoka case, the European Parliament denounces the alleged financial support offered by Moscow to the National Front in France, Matteo Salvini’s Lega in Italy or the Austrian far-right party FPO, as well as the support for the campaign to leave the Kingdom. Union of the EU.
It also mentions that a worker affiliated with the ultra Alternative for Germany and linked to a German deputy in the Bundestag was identified as a contact person for the Russian FSB.
