The Catalan Parliament has passed a motion presented by the three pro-independence parties, ERC, Junts, the CUP, along with the alternative left Comuns, to exercise their right to petition the European Union and thus be able to denounce the massive CatalanGate espionage. An approach which Parliament hopes to employ to send three Catalan representatives to PEGA, the European chamber's committee investigating the use of Pegasus spyware, and thus take part in the public hearing to be held focusing on the case of Spain, on November 29th, the setting in which they hope to set out the facts of the espionage against over sixty people linked to pro-independence spheres. Article 203 of he Catalan Parliament's regulations allows its MPs to promote an initiative in relation to a matter that is part of European competences.
The proposal was easily passed with the support of the four parties, but it still has a long way to go, particularly because it will face the European Parliament's petitions committee, chaired by the PP's Dolors Montserrat, whose agreement is crucial is the Catalan parliamentarians are to be referred to the Pegasus committee. "She will put obstacles in our way so that it doesn't happen and it will be difficult for the initiative to succeed," acknowledged ERC deputy Jordi Orobitg. "But our obligation is to persist."
The initiative also goes further, also encouraging the European Parliament to achieve, with the support of the EU Commission, the total and immediate prohibition of the use of the Pegasus system and other similar software throughout the European Union. It also proposes to proceed with the establishment of European instruments to control the actions of member states to avoid "abusive and illegal" practices. In this way, the aim is to make it impossible for a case of cyberespionage, such as CatalanGate, to escape judicial investigation. And, to add strength to this offensive against Pegasus, it also proposes to establish "control and sanction mechanisms" for states that allow the production and commercialization of this type of spyware, as is the case in Israel.