The Catalan government denounced again this morning that, after eight days, the Spanish executive led by Pedro Sánchez has still not responded to the CatalanGate espionage to which at least 65 people linked to the independence movement have been subjected by the state. For this reason, the executive agreed today to take all legal and political action within its reach to obtain the truth, by all means and in all bodies competent to act on the matter. It also agreed to restrict relations with the Spanish government to a minimum. "We need to know who ordered this massive surveillance and espionage, how it was done and we demand accountability," said government spokesperson Patricia Plaja in response to what is considered as a very serious attack on fundamental rights.
The president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, demanded a face-to-face interview with the Spanish PM when the scandal first broke. Aragonès exchanged messages with Sánchez with this aim, but the Spanish government's only response was the meeting held on Sunday by the minister for the prime minister's department, Félix Bolaño, with her Catalan counterpart Laura Vilagrà. The outcome of this meeting was considered insufficient by Pere Aragonès's government. After the analysis of the situation during today's Catalan cabinet meeting, the executive's spokesperson once again denounced the Spanish government's silence on the issue.
Plaja did not specify the legal measures that the Catalan administration will take, which are in the hands of the legal services of the Generalitat, but she guaranteed that the executive will offer support to all those affected. As for relations with the Spanish state, until there is full accountability for the affair and it is guaranteed that a situation like this will not be repeated, “only those dealings that are essential, necessary and convenient for the clarification of CatalanGate itself or essential for the all citizens of Catalonia will be carried out", the spokesperson specified. The freeze of the intergovernmental relationship will also affect the dialogue table. The Catalan executive considers that the conditions are not in place for a meeting of the table to take place, and that, despite the Catalan commitment to dialogue, there is a greater emergency to be faced.
The Catalan government also demands that the confidentiality of all actions related to this scandal be lifted, and will demand that the Spanish cabinet gives access to contracts with NSO, the company that supplied Pegasus, and any other similar software; it will also demand the reform of the Spanish official secrets act, which dates from 1968 and is “absolutely outdated”, and the repeal of the digital decree that allows the Spanish executive to intervene in electronic communications without judicial authorization. Any investigation that can be carried out in Congress, the Catalan Parliament or at European level will also be promoted.
"My country, come what may", invalid
In the face of a report today published in the Spanish newspaper El País asserting that the CNI intelligence service does indeed have the Pegasus program and has used it against Catalan independence activists - which the defence minister Margarita Robles still refuses to clarify - the spokeswoman wondered "whether, when it comes putting an end to the independence movement, the Spanish government accepts that the end justifies the means." In this regard, she warned that judicial authorizations to allow surveillance "must be substantiated, and in a democracy the grounds of "my country, come what may" should not be a sufficient motivation for an agency to authorize the violation of so many fundamental rights."
The Catalan government does not hide its demand for resignations over the issue, but also calls for explanations from Pedro Sánchez. "We are talking about a case that calls into question the fundamental pillars of democracy, violates human rights, and it is very difficult to understand that in eight days we have not heard prime minister Sánchez saying anything about it," said Plaja.