European Parliamentary Delegation to observe 9N vote

The spokesman of the Delegation, Ian Duncan, says that “voting is not a crime”

An international delegation of eight Members of Parliament from European regional Parliaments, national Parliaments and the European Parliament will spend the 9 November observing the vote of the Catalan citizens on their political future. The Members of Parliament come from different European countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and United Kingdom) and have diverse political backgrounds, representing political parties or groups such as the Greens, Liberals, Conservatives and Socialists.

In a public presentation in Barcelona, the spokesman of the Delegation, Ian Duncan, explained that their role tomorrow is to observe the vote, in a moment that Catalonia is in an “important juncture”. He also made clear that they do not endorse either side but the vote itself. He told that, being Scottish, he defended unionism in the last referendum, but he also proclaimed that “before a unionist, I am a democrat”. Asked about the Spanish blocking of the vote, he assured that “voting is not a crime” and what is needed is to “let the voice of the people be heard”. Duncan considers that the right to vote is the most precious we have and he hoped that the vote in catalonia tomorrow is “as open and transparent as possible”. He also showed his disposal to inform the Spanish Government about the findings of the delegation if they wish so.

The delegation is integrated by the following MPs:

Name	Surname	Nationality	Parliament	Group	Polit. Party
Izaskun	Bilbao	Spain	European Parliament	ALDE	Coalició per Europa – PNB
Mark	Demesmaeker	Belgium	European Parliament	European Conservatives and Reformists	Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie
Ian	Duncan	United Kingdom	European Parliament	European Conservatives and Reformists	Conservative Party
Jill	Evans	United Kingdom	European Parliament	Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance	Plaid Cymru
Valter	Mutt	Sweden	Swedish Parliament	European Green Party	The Green Party
Gérard	Onesta	France	Regional Parliament of Midi-Pyrénees	European Green Party	Europe Ecologie
Peter	Vilfan	Slovenia	Parliament of Slovenia	ALDE	Alliance of Alenka Bratusek ZaAB (Liberal)
Bernhard	von Grünberg	Germany	Parliament of the Land North Rhine-Westphalia	European Socialist Group	SPD

They talked to political actors and civil society representatives involved in the process. They will visit more than 30 polling stations in Catalonia, starting in Barcelona and from there travelling up to Girona and Tarragona, where they will witness the opening of polling stations, the voting process, the closing of voting stations and the counting of votes. They will have free access to the installations and the volunteers, in order to verify the possibility for all Catalans to express their opinion in a transparent and fair vote.