Exiled Catalan president Carles Puigdemont has told the European Parliament about the existence of a "double standard" in the EU in its reaction to violations of the rule of law by member states, depending on which country is affected.
In the course of a debate this Tuesday specifically focused on the rule of law in Poland, Puigdemont warned that the EU was not applying the same rigour in the Spanish case, and warned that European institutions had to pursue the issue "until the end" for any state that was in breach on rule of law issues. "If we want to be serious and to strengthen the rule of law we have to end the double standard," he said. His full one-minute speech in English is below:
Carles Puigdemont speculated that Polish people listening to the EU debate focusing on issues in their country might well ask themselves: "And Spain, what? Why can Spain ignore the UN Human Rights Commission or the resolutions of the European Court of Justice? Why is it okay if Spain imprisons political dissidents and its Constitutional Court manoeuvres to delay access to the European Court of Human Rights?"