Neither a foreign affairs minister exclusively dedicated to smearing the cause of the Catalan independence movement internationally, nor a body with the millions of Global Spain, exclusively dedicated to Spanish proselytism and countering, including by nefarious means, the explanations from Catalonia's institutions about what the real situation is in Catalonia, have avoided the resounding slap from the Council of Europe to Pedro Sánchez's government. And not on a minor matter, far from it, rather on the violation of the freedom of expression of politicians imprisoned in the Spanish state and in Turkey. The mere comparison of Spain and Turkey in an official document from an international organisation with headquarters in Strasbourg and which 47 European states should be a cause for concern and alarm if it weren't that the deep state is hunting big game and its main objective is none other than linking the Catalan independence movement with terrorism.
The report, 13 pages long, presented by the Latvian Boris Cilevičs to the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and which has been approved, is enormously harsh on the behaviour of the Spanish justice system and decisions taken by the Supreme Court on, for example, the deprival of freedom, parliamentary immunity, the independence of elected officials and the call for long sentences for the political prisoners. The Latvian Cilevičs, according to the approved report, has requested to carry out a fact-finding visit to Madrid and Barcelona; it will be fun to find out what the response from the Spanish government and foreign ministry will be who, hours after the news, was maintaining an unusual silence despite being a ministry as talkative as it is controversial.
It's not the first time that Spain has been singled out by international bodies during the Catalan conflict. It's true that the European Commission, the true politburo of the states, remains today quite impermeable to the demands of the Catalan independence movement. However, the current of sympathy in the European Parliament broadened significantly after last May's election and in some countries unthinkable statements have been made by political parties or legislative chambers in favour of calls for a referendum or against the imprisonment of the pro-independence leaders. This is the case, for example, of France, Germany and the UK, to cite the most important in Europe.
The enormous judicial, political and media noise in the Spanish state to associate the Catalan independence movement with terrorism is so far having limited success internationally. Among other reasons, because its moves have been so clumsy they haven't had any great credibility. And it won't be because it's not bringing out the big guns, like biased leaks from sealed National Audience investigations, the permanent debate in Madrid on reintroducing article 155 to limit or suspend Catalan self-governance or even the activation of the law of National Security, the latest card put on the table as a warning to the Catalan government. Smoke to blow over the international warnings against Spain.