The European Parliament has today not impeded Catalan minister Clara Ponsatí from attending a debate, a decision which contrasts with the legal persecution she is suffering in the Spanish state. The spokesperson for Spain's PP in the Parliament, Esteban González Pons, had asked the chamber to prevent Carles Puigdemont and the ministers with him in Brussels, including Ponsatí, from entering, if they were to come to a debate. The European Parliament has not accepted the request, a clear setback for Spanish intentions.
Ponsatí was able to attend an event, organised by the Greens-EFA group, about the 1st October referendum and police repression without any problems. The minister attended the event alongside New Flemish Alliance MEP Mark Demesmaeker. She took the opportunity to greet Roger Español, the young man who lost an eye to a rubber bullet fired by police during the operation to repress the referendum.
González Pons this week sent a letter to the president of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, asking for him to ban entry to the exiled Catalans, warning that "some people", whom he didn't specify, would try "to put the instalations at the scandalous service of Mr Puigdemont", which, in his opinion, would give the president a "notable platform" from which to express his "illegal aims".
There is no arrest warrant open against the exiled Catalans in Belgium or in Europe, only in Spanish territory.
Clara Ponsatí greeting Roger Español in the European Parliament
The event also saw a contribution from Lluís Arcarazo, director of the documentary "1-O", and the MEPS from ERC, Josep Maria Terricabras and Jordi Solé, who detailed what happened on the day of the referendum, four months ago today.