The European Parliament approves with an overwhelming majority to investigate Russian interference and its links with Puigdemont

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Updated Thursday, February 8, 2024-13:12

• EU The European Parliament expresses its "deep concern" about Russia's links with the Catalan independence movement and asks Spain to investigate them

• Politics Citizens demand from Roberta Metsola that the European Parliament investigate Carles Puigdemont for the Russian plot of the 'procés'

The plenary session of the European Parliament approved this Thursday by an overwhelming majority the long-awaited resolution on Russian interference and efforts to destabilize the European Union by sowing chaos in the different member states or supporting political parties or movements such as the Catalan independence movement. A text that calls for continuing to investigate the role of Carles Puigdemont's entourage and that "deplores" the pressure on the magistrates who are doing so.

The result has been clear: 433 votes in favor, 56 against and 18 abstentions, since it had the support of all the great political families. The independentists themselves, Toni Comín, Clara Ponsatí and Jordi Solé, voted against. The UP or anti-capitalist deputies. And Izaskun Bilbao, from the PNV, has abstained. Puigdemont has not participated, unlike in 2021, when he did support a report that he requested in one of his sections to be investigated.

The final text has also incorporated a series of amendments, such as the one presented by the popular MEP Javier Zarzalejos, to add a mention to Carles Puigdemont. Not in the final part of the condemnation, but in the explanatory statement, when in the recitals it is highlighted, now, that "according to information from various investigative journalists, the former Russian diplomat Nikolai Sadovnikov met with the then separatist leader and current member of the European Parliament Carles Puigdemont, in Barcelona, ​​on the eve of the illegal referendum in Catalonia in October 2017," says the final text.

"Today we approved in the European Parliament a very important resolution on Putin's democratic interference in the EU. MEPs are denounced and asked to be investigated for their links with the Kremlin. Puigdemont and the Catalan separatist cause are highlighted in the eyes of all of Europe. It is It is a shame that the PSOE votes to investigate him here and amnesty him in Madrid. Seven votes are not worth that indignity," reacted Adrián Vázquez, leader of Ciudadanos and promoter of the text and some of the amendments.

The text of the resolution, debated last Tuesday, establishes once again that the European Chamber is "extremely concerned about the alleged relations between the Catalan secessionists and the Russian administration" and about the large-scale disinformation campaigns that Russia has carried out. in Catalonia, as well as for the "alleged intense contacts and the number of meetings between the agents responsible for Russian interference in the independence movement." Furthermore, the text "calls on the competent judicial authorities to effectively investigate the connections of MEPs allegedly associated with the Kremlin and Russia's attempts at destabilization and interference in the EU and its Member States" and "deplores all attacks on judges that investigate any interference activity. An express reference to what is happening these days with the magistrates who handle cases like the Voloh.

The PSOE, under a lot of pressure, has voted in line with its European group, the S&D, which is led precisely by the Spanish Iratxe García, Sánchez's trusted person in the chamber for years. They voted against the amendments, which not only called for the inclusion of Puigdemont's name and a couple of additional express references to Catalonia in the 11-page document, but also that "the cases of the affected Catalan MEPs be referred to the Advisory Committee on the conduct of the deputies". The four amendments promoted by the PP and Ciudadanos have come out despite everyone.

The socialists argue that they have followed the group's decision, which had agreed on a text and there was no need for additional additions, when a balance had already been found between the speakers, who had launched this joint initiative. But they have supported the text that expressly calls not only for the investigators to be left alone, but also for "the competent judicial authorities to effectively investigate the connections of MEPs allegedly associated with the Kremlin and Russia's attempts at destabilization and interference in the EU and its Member States".