European
leaders’ reaction to Catalonia’s violence-marred independence referendum on
October 1 was mixed. Some strongly condemned the force used by Spanish police
ordered to prevent the vote. Others commented warily, mindful of separatist
movements in their own countries or the EU.
In a
statement released on October 2, the European Commission said the vote in
Catalonia was not legal under Spain’s constitution and that the Commission
considered it an internal matter for Spain.
“We call on
all relevant players to now move very swiftly from confrontation to dialogue.
Violence can never be an instrument in politics. We trust the leadership of Prime
Minister
Mariano Rajoy to manage
this difficult process in full respect of the Spanish Constitution and of the
fundamental rights of citizens enshrined therein,” the Commission statement
said.
European
Council President
Donald Tusk
appealed to Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on to seek ways to avoid
escalation in Catalonia.
After
speaking to Rajoy on October 2, Tusk tweeted: “Sharing his constitutional
arguments, I appealed for finding ways to avoid further escalation and use of
force.”
Also on October
2, German Foreign Minister
Sigmar
Gabriel released a statement echoing the EU’s calls for dialogue. He said:
“The images that reached us yesterday from Spain show how important it is to
interrupt the spiral of escalation”.
As reported
by Deutsche Welle (DW), Germany’s international broadcaster, the Greens
co-leader
Cem Özdemir, a potential
coalition partner for Chancellor
Angela
Merkel and future senior minister, condemned the force used.
“Whether or not the referendum was legitimate,
the violence by police against voters was disproportionate and harmful to such
an important dialogue,” he wrote on Twitter.
In the UK,
Foreign Secretary
Boris Johnson said
it was a matter for the Spanish government and people and that it was important
the Spanish constitution be respected and the rule of law upheld. Madrid had
ruled Catalonia’s referendum illegal. He
tweeted: “Spain is a close ally and a good friend, whose strength and unity
matters to the UK”.
In
Scotland, First Minister
Nicola Sturgeon
criticised the statement as “shamefully weak”. Sturgeon closely followed the
events on her Twitter feed, saying she was increasingly concerned by the images
coming from Catalonia.
“Regardless of views on independence, we
should all condemn the scenes being witnessed,” said Sturgeon, who led
Scotland’s 2014 independence referendum in which it voted to remain part of the
UK.
Guy Verhofstadt
, an EU lawmaker who is leading the European
Parliament’s Brexit negotiations, called for de-escalation and a negotiated
solution to the conflict. He tweeted: “It’s high time for de-escalation. Only a
negotiated solution is the way forward”.
https://www.neweurope.eu/article/catalonia-referendum-violence-met-mixed-reaction/