Representatives of ERC (Catalan Republican Left), EH Bildu (Basque Country Unite), BNG (Galician Nationalist Bloc) and Compromís (Commitment) have today in Brussels criticised the existence of a "Francoism after Franco", on the 42nd anniversary of the dictator's death.
During the event, which enjoyed the support of the European parliamentary groups Greens-EFA and GUE-NGL, ERC MEP Jordi Solé said that "eight members of the government of Catalonia are prisoners for having put out ballot boxes", a measure he described as an "heir of Francoism".
The attendees remembered the Catalan vice-president, Oriol Junqueras, and Foreign Affairs minister, Raül Romeva, both imprisoned awaiting trial on charges of of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds. According to BNG spokesperson Ana Miranda, "they would be here if they hadn't been imprisoned by the Spanish state".
Lack of historical memory
Compromís' spokesperson, Jordi Sebastià, said that "the European Union doesn't realise the anomaly that is the lack of historical memory in Spain".
"In countries like Italy or Germany a process of democratic cleaning has been carried out which has made it impossible for anyone to defend dark periods like fascism", said Sebastià, who lamented that this "hasn't happened in Spain".
Also among the speakers at the event was the editor of Spanish satirical magazine El Jueves Guillermo Martínez-Vela, who said that "in a serious and mature democracy, the forces of order should defend freedom of expression, not pursue it". The magazine is under investigation after complaints by Spain's National Police over a number of articles and cartoons published about the police's deployment during the 1st October referendum.