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The Crans Montana Forum was undeterred by foreign Minister Josep Borrell's public reproaches to its director, Jean Paul Carteron. The minister expressed his irritation on Monday, recalling Carteron's introduction of president Carles Puigdemont at the annual meeting of the entity in late June in Geneva and the way in which the independence pulse was treated. Crans Montana warned that if the Spanish government did not explain its opinion it was due to the "lack of interest" by Madrid authorities, since they did not want to attend despite having been invited.

In an open letter to the newspaper Tribune de Genève last week, Borrell attributed the head of the Forum "a lack of surprising knowledge" and improper lightness for someone in his responsibility, for having spoken about the existence of political prisoners and exiles in Spain. The Crans Montana replied by posting a statement on their website entitled Spain and Crans Montana Forum's relationship

In this text, the entity explains that more than 500 people participated in this year's meeting in Geneva, including numerous heads of State, prime ministers and government members, who addressed numerous issues related to international relations and democracy, one of which was directly concerned with Spain. For this reason, in the desire to organise balanced debates as a rule in their meetings, they were careful to personally invite Borrell as well as all the members of the Spanish government and the Spanish ambassadors to Geneva, Bern, Paris, Brussels and Rome.

"Unfortunately, we did not receive a single response and we could not but confirm the disinterest of the Spanish authorities," he regrets in the text

For this reason, the statement concludes: "If an exchange could seem unbalanced in the eyes of some, we deplore it, noting that it is not the Forum's doing"

Previously, the Crans Montana Forum text recalls their relationship not only with Spain, but in particular with Borrell, going back fifteen years when he was President of the European Parliament and, later, when he was at the European Institute in Bologna. He also emphasises that the current minister had supported one of the honor committees of the Forum and had attended meetings in Brussels.