Brussels washes hands of Catalonia crisis as Spain jails ministers

The European Commission had little to say about the crackdown in one of the EU's member states

The European Commission headquarters at the Berlaymont Building in Brussels (Getty)

The European Commission has continued to wash its hands of the political crisis in Catalonia, refusing to comment on the imprisonment of former ministers and the planned arrest of disputed president Carles Puigdemont.

In a frustrating press conference in Brussels a spokesperson refused to be drawn on recent events, giving short and repetitive answers to a variety of questions relating to the recent troubles in the region.

The Commission would also not confirm whether president Jean-Claude Juncker would even raise the issue of Catalonia when he visits the Spanish city of Salamanca next week.

Asked by reporters in whether Spain was right to use a European Arrest Warrant to pursue Mr Puigdemont for political crimes, a spokesperson for the Commission would only say: “This is a matter entirely for the judicial authorities whose independence we respect fully.”

The spokesperson would also not be drawn on whether it was right for Spanish authorities to jail eight Catalan ministers before they had been convicted of a crime.

“This is a question for judicial authorities and respect their independence,” she said.

And asked about the lack of international and domestic confidence in the independence of Spain’s judiciary, the spokesperson said:

“We fully respect the constitutional order of Spain and I have absolutely nothing to add to that well-established position.”

When it was put to the spokesperson that the Commission should “get off the fence” about the crisis a spokesperson would only reply: “It is a judiciary issue, for the judicial authorities. The judicial authorities are independent. We respect that independence.”

The spokesperson would not be drawn on why the Commission regularly intervened on the internal matters of other member states but was refusing to do so on Spain.

Mr Puigdemont is currently in Belgium, where he fled to avoid charges of rebellion, sedition, and misuse of public funds for his role in Catalonia’s declaration of independence last month.

Other members of his government have returned to Catalonia to face questioning on these charges; eight of them were imprisoned yesterday. Spanish authorities have indicated that they will seek to use a European Arrest Warrant, an EU instrument, to force the former president to face a Spanish court.

The Madrid government has called snap Catalan regional elections for 21 December in order to elect a new Catalan parliament, after the current one voted to declare independence.

The Catalan separatists have said they will accept the result of the polls.