Spain confuses political rivals with enemies

 

The Spanish Congress of Deputies (House of Representatives or Commons) has vetoed the appointment of democratically elected Catalan Members of Congress, with full rights in the Spanish Congress, to the Official Secrets Committee of the Congress. This is the fourth time they have been blocked on the grounds that Catalan Deputies are not "suitable" for access to this Commission, which monitors the use of the reserve funds, analyses secret reports and receives the director of Spanish intelligence (the Centro Nacional de Inteligencia or CNI), and the Ministers of Defence, Interior and Exteriors behind closed doors.

An unprecedented veto in Congress

Parliamentary courtesy had established until now that all the appointees be chosen from across the political spectrum. The Catalans have submitted the nomination again despite the fact the Partido Popular (PP) had already imposed its veto on 23 February 2012. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's  party has once again rejected the candidacies of the Catalans Deputies.

Spain mistakes political rivals for enemies

Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, the Catalan Republican Left, took the floor in parliamentary session and criticized the Spanish Popular Party for "mistaking political rivals for enemies" and for "unfairly and disproportionately vetoing" the Catalan candidate to the Commission. The Catalan spokesman queried the PP whether they refused to have him in the Commission "so he could not question the director of the CNI" on issues such as "the deployment of the CNI in Catalonia", "the espionage scandal in Catalonia", or "his support for the foul play in Catalonia in association with the media, cooking up reports based on unconnected information from the Fiscal & Economic Crime Unit of the Spanish Police.

The Catalan Members of Parliament represent hundreds of thousands of voters, having been elected democratically. The relations between Catalonia and Spain are complex and these gestures contribute to widening the gap. The veto ''is serious and yet another reason for the misunderstanding between Catalonia and Spain”.

Spanish Version