Double standard in the European Parliament: yes to an event with Vox, but no to one with Catalan presidents Carles Puigdemont and Quim Torra. The far-right Spanish party will take part in an event on the "coup d'état" in Catalonia in the Parliament this Wednesday. That event has now received the final go-ahead, Parliament sources have confirmed to Catalan news agency ACN.
According to the sources, the relevant officials have confirmed that the request to hold the conference has complied with the requisite procedures and deadlines and the Parliament's security department hasn't detected any "problems" relating to it.
Last month, the European Parliament blocked an event to have involved president Puigdemont and Torra, citing "security concerns", which ended up being held in a Brussels hotel. They also provisionally suspended an exhibition on the Catalan language, arguing it was inappropriate once Pedro Sánchez had called a snap general election for April. They later backtracked on that decision and allowed it to go ahead.
"Catalunya, a Spanish region"
At the invitation of an MEP of Polish right-wing populist party PiS, party's secretary general, Javier Ortega, as keynote speaker. their spokesperson in Catalonia, Jorge Buxadé, and their vice-president for institutional relations in the Balearic Islands, Malena Contestí, will take part in the event under the title "Catalonia, a Spanish region".
Also scheduled to speak are the historian Jesús Lainz and the editor-in-chief of right-wing channel Intereconomia, Rosa Cuervas. The poster for the event says that a "coup d'état was attempted" in Catalonia and calls people to "join us to understand the real story of Spain".