Bruselas (Bélgica), lunes 27 de noviembre de 2023 (Lasvocesdelpueblo).- «Dear President Roberta Metsola, On Thursday, November 23, Members of the European Parliament, Carles Puigdemont and Antoni Comín, sent two letters to you, demanding sanctions against officials of the European institutions. All this follows a letter sent to their hierarchy, in which they express their concern over an amnesty bill in Spain. Mr. Puigdemont and Mr. Comín reveal in their letters the names of individual staff members, as well as their party affiliations, notably also to our own party, Ciudadanos.
Furthermore, the above-mentioned Members of Parliament also denounce the participation of European officials in a demonstration against the amnesty law in front of the European Parliament on November 12. Mr. Puigdemont has also approached the European Commission, urging sanctions «against all officials who have spoken against the aforementioned amnesty law, adopted an aggressive tone against the Catalan separatist movement, or employed language reminiscent of opposition parties in Spain».
It is essential to highlight that this campaign extends beyond the confines of this written complaint. Media outlets sympathetic to the Catalan separatist movement have published articles specifically targeting and singling out officials who have expressed views opposed to the separatist agenda. We are herewith firmly condemning the political persecution by Mr. Puigdemont and Mr. Comín of European officials and ask you to defend the latter from these unacceptable attacks by two fugitives from justice.
It is beyond doubt that officials of the European Institutions are free to send correspondence to their hierarchy at administrative and political levels, as is the case here. It is also unacceptable and a sign of authoritarianism to suggest that European officials are not entitled to the freedom of expression and assembly, as guaranteed under Article 17bis of the officials’ statute. In this context, there is no room, for none of us, also not for European officials, for an attitude of equidistance between a serious attack on the rule of law in an EU Member State and its very defense, as is daily the case by Spanish society.
We regret that the political agreement between the Spanish Socialist Party and the fugitives Puigdemont and Comín have encouraged the letters to launch this despicable harassment campaign against EU officials, who work relentlessly in the interest of the European Union, European Parliament 60, rue Wiertz / Wiertzstraat 60 B-1047 Bruxelles/Brussel and that the Spanish Government is unfortunately not expected to come to the defense of its nationals.
Against this background, we would like to ask you, President, to vigorously defend the rights of the officials of this and other EU Institutions, irrespective of their political affiliations, and decisively bring to an end the political persecution initiated by the aforementioned Members of the European Parliament.
Sincerely,
Adrián Vázquez
Maite Pagazaurtundúa
Soraya Rodríguez
José Ramón Bauzá
Jordi Cañas
Susana Solís
Eva Poptcheva
Brussels , 27 November 2023″.
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