EU CONFIDENTIAL

Madrid calls Catalan vote ‘evil illegal act’

Spain’s Europe minister compared Madrid’s efforts to stop the Catalan vote to John F. Kennedy defending desegregation in the United States

Jorge Toledo Albiñana, Spain’s Secretary of State for European Affairs, has opened up a new front in Madrid’s war of words against Catalan separatists.

Speaking to POLITICO’s EU Confidential podcast in the countdown to a referendum called by the Catalan government Sunday October 1, Toledo called the vote an “evil illegal act” that undermines 500 years of shared history, 60 years of European integration and 40 years of Spanish democracy.

Toledo said the government of Catalonia has breached the Spanish constitution and its own autonomy statute in pushing forward with referendum plans.

He compared Madrid’s battle to U.S President John F. Kennedy sending in troops to uphold the rights of black students to attend desegregated schools in the south of the United States.

“Kennedy said that it was a basic principle of the United States of America and of freedom to abide by the law. You can disagree with the law. You can change the law. But you cannot not apply the law because you think it is not fit to your purposes.”

While ramping up the dramatic analogies, Toledo is also dismissive of the impact of Sunday’s vote: Independence “is not going to happen” he said.

Amadeu Altafaj, Catalonia’s representative in Brussels told POLITICO’s EU Confidential that Toledo’s comments are “very telling,” and claimed Madrid will use any means — including courts, armed police, undercover operations, and communication bans — rather than political dialogue to end the debate.

Altafaj slammed Madrid’s tactics as a “black and white, passionate macho Latino approach.” He said the Spanish government is “not rational” and said that with a different approach “most of the tensions could have been diffused years ago.”

Toledo said Madrid’s actions, including court action against hundreds of mayors and other Catalan officials was “very proportionate to an unprecedented challenge to the law.”

Recognizing the risk of violence as people attempt to vote Sunday, Altafaj called for calm and insisted there had not been “a single incident” during six years of “huge demonstrations with more than 1 million people on the street.”

While Altafaj said “We are open to discussion and until the very last-minute,” the chance of a meaningful dialogue is slim.

Toledo insisted “There is no possible dialogue on independence of Catalonia”

Altafaj suggested a third-party mediator may be required come October 2 to break the political deadlock.

Catalonian Foreign Affairs Minister Raül Romeva told reporters in Brussels Thursday that he called on the EU to “stand for values and principles” such as free expression guaranteed by the EU treaty.

Minister Toledo rejected the idea that “a part of Spain decides on its own what the whole of Spain is.”

Romeva said the determination of millions of Catalans to participate in the referendum — the government says 70 to 80 percent want the right to vote — is “nothing against Spain.”

— Judith Mischke contributed reporting to this article

 

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