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The Catalan pro-independence party Together for Catalonia (Junts) had to put up with an official decision to remove a photograph - of a ballot box used for the 1st October 2017 independence referendum - which was the final image in the exhibition on Catalonia's contribution to the progress of Europe that the party had mounted at the European Parliament. All this happened hours before the opening of the exhibition, scheduled for this evening, and just before the address this morning in which Carles Puigdemont explained the preconditions that the Junts party has set on opening a negotiation with the Spanish state, in the context of the hypothetical investiture of a PSOE-led government. The European chamber, after receiving the protests of the anti-independence Ciudadanos party over the photograph in question ordered the removal of the image, arguing that it had not appeared in the information dossier that Junts presented before mounting the exhibition.

MEP Toni Comín, responsible for the initiative, did not hide his frustration at this "censorship" during the exhibition opening. Next to the empty panel, which remains within the exhibition, he stated his regret that the EU Parliament had fallen into the "trap of the authoritarians". To explain what he meant, he received assistance from an unexpected guest at the opening, the Vox MEP, Hermann Tertsch, who appeared at the event and while Comín was speaking, yelled out "This is a defence of the coup!" Replied the Junts MEP: "That's what I was referring to."

In fact, the presentation of the show was not without a level of tension, after it was realized that among the public there would be people not at all sympathetic to the pro-independence cause, and the EU Parliament's security staff were strategically deployed over the few square meters occupied by the exhibition.

After the hectic presentation, the event was closed with some words by Carles Puigdemont, who emphasized that, despite the disappearance of the ballot box image, the controversy had generated a Streisand effect, publicizing the exhibition much more than its promoters expected. "Everyone knows which photograph it is, and I want to thank them for all the promotional efforts they have made for us," he quipped in reference to the Ciudadanos protests.

The event was attended by a large number of Junts representatives who are participating in the party's inter-parliamentary sessions today and tomorrow, as well as some MEPs from other countries. The MEP Clara Ponsatí was also present, maintaining a distance from Puigdemont, paralleling the strategic difference​ that became apparent on July 5th when she attacked the Catalan exile strategy in a joint press conference. Ponsatí was a notable absentee from the address that Puigdemont gave on Tuesday morning, but she didn't miss the exhibition.