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The minister-president of Flanders, Geert Bourgeois, has expressed deep concern over the existence of Catalan political prisoners and exiles after meeting his Catalan counterpart, Quim Torra, in Barcelona's government palace. In Bourgeois's opinion, the situation clashes with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

"It's a topic which worries us enormously. The future of these prisoners and the Catalan politicians in exile, in particular in Brussels, worries us a lot", said the minister-president during a press conference with president Torra.

"It's not normal for there to be people imprisoned when they are engaged in politics and they execute laws decided upon democratically in a democratic parliament, who have not taken part in any violent action, on the contrary they've always called for peaceful dialogue," he added.

Bourgeois emphasised his "absolute respect" for the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary, but insisted that, in his view, "this has been a political act of freedom of expression" and that, as such, the Spanish legal response "clashes with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union".

The Flemish politician suggested that the rejected extradition requests have revealed this clash. Likewise, he noted that the crime of rebellion doesn't exist in the legal systems of many European countries and that, as such, neither Belgium nor Germany have accepted that charge. He said it might not be compatible "with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union".

On the other hand, he expressed satisfaction about the dialogue which has now started between the Catalan government and Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez. "I'm very happy that there's finally dialogue, we've argued from the start for the need for this dialogue. We called on the EU to try to establish mediation between Madrid and Barcelona", he said, "any solution always starts with dialogue".

For his part, Torra noted that the Flemish Parliament condemned the disproportionate violence seen during last year's Catalan referendum in the first days after the vote. "The Flemish people has shown our exiles affection and solidarity that I want to thank [them for]," he said.

 

The president thanked the minister-president for his support of the prisoners and suggested that the legal verdicts in Germany and, soon, in Scotland and Switzerland, will open a completely different situation in which Spain is insisting on putting on trial honest politicians unlike anywhere else in Europe. As such, he called for their release.

The two governments have started a collaboration in the areas of economics, research and digital policy.