Europa Press Brussels

Brussels

Updated Wednesday, February 7, 2024-16:52

  • EU Brussels puts its finger on Russian interference in the process and asks to investigate "who else did what and under what conditions to play Moscow's game"

  • Commission Puigdemont's connection with Russia, a red line in Brussels: "There are doors that cannot be knocked on even as a joke"

The European Parliament will denounce this Thursday in a resolution the Russian interference during the independence

process

in Catalonia and will ask that the connections of MEPs allegedly associated with the Kremlin be effectively investigated, in a text that has been agreed upon by the majority of groups, including socialists and green.

The joint resolution on Russian interference in democratic processes in Europe, among other things, calls on Spain to investigate the connections between Catalan separatism and the Kremlin, in line with the instruction of the judicial case that indicates that Carles Puigdemont's

entourage

established links with former Russian diplomats within the framework of the independence struggle in 2017.

The text agreed upon by the majority formations in the European Parliament, according to Europa Press, expresses the "deep concern" of the European Parliament about the "alleged relations between the Catalan secessionists and the Russian administration" and points out that Russian interference in Catalonia "would be part of a broader Russian strategy to promote internal destabilization and disunity of the EU.

In this sense, it indicates that Moscow has organized "massive disinformation campaigns in Catalonia" and points to the "alleged deep contacts" and meetings between Russian agents and members of the independence movement. For all these reasons, the resolution asks the competent judicial authorities to "effectively investigate the connections of members of the European Parliament allegedly associated with the Kremlin and Russia's attempts at destabilization and interference in the EU", a reference that fits the situation of the former Catalan president and current Junts MEP, although he is not expressly named.

Support for Spanish judges

Likewise, regarding the situation of the judges studying the ties of Catalan separatism with Russian Intelligence, the common proposal "deplores" all attacks against the judges investigating this case.

This resolution, which will be approved this Thursday in plenary session, comes after the debate in the European Parliament in which the vice president of the European Commission,

Margaritis Schinas

, made express mention of the ties of Catalan secessionism with Russian officials, echoing the information on "close and regular contacts", including visits organized between 2017 and 2020.

Schinas called for the European Parliament to carry out an internal investigation into cases of Russian interference, after accusations against Latvian MEP

Tatjana Zdanoka

also came to light for collaborating for two decades with Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB). duty of this house to investigate who did what, under what conditions, to play Moscow's game," he stated in a general request to investigate the alleged relations with the Kremlin but after pointing specifically to the case of the Catalan independence movement.

The resolution agreed by the main parties points the finger at other European political forces for their alleged links to Russian espionage.

Apart from the Dzanoka case, the European Parliament will denounce the alleged financial support offered by Moscow to the

National Front

in France,

Matteo Salvini

's

Lega

in Italy or the Austrian far-right party

FPO

, as well as the support for the campaign to leave the Kingdom. Union of the EU. It also mentions that a worker affiliated with the ultra Alternative

for Germany

and linked to a German deputy in the Bundestag was identified as a contact person for the Russian FSB.