THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT CALLS FOR AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE LINKS BETWEEN THE KREMLIN AND CATALAN INDEPENDENTISM
By Ane Barcos / Aquí Europa
MEPs have approved this Thursday, February 8, 2024, a text that collects the information linking the Catalan independence leaders and the Kremlin, urging to continue judicial investigations into these alleged interference of Russian security services.
In a resolution passed with 433 votes in favor, 56 against and 18 abstentions, the European Parliament has expressed its “total outrage and deep concern” over Russia’s continued efforts to undermine democracy through various forms of interference and disinformation.
The resolution calls for the continuation of judicial investigations into Russia’s interference and denounces that Moscow has carried out a “recruitment of MEPs as agents of influence” with the aim of creating “a system of dependencies through European political parties that then act as amplifiers of Kremlin propaganda.”
Therefore, the European Parliament has voted in favor of suspending MEPs involved in activities linked to foreign interference and has pledged to implement stricter controls and ensure that threats to EU democracy are neutralized.
RESOLUTION DIRECTLY TARGETS PUIGDEMONT
The text makes direct allusion to Carles Puigdemont following the approval of amendments by the Popular Party to include him in the resolution, which expresses “extreme concern” about relations between Catalan pro-independence supporters and the Russian administration, and notes that Russian interference in Catalonia is part of a broader Russian strategy to promote internal destabilization and disunity in the European Union.
It also alludes to meetings between agents responsible for Russian interference with representatives of the independence movement and the Catalan government, more specifically, to information revealing a meeting on the eve of the October 2017 secessionist referendum of the then president of the Generalitat and current MEP Carles Puigdemont with former Russian diplomat Nikolau Sadovnikov and denounces the “massive disinformation campaigns” that Russia has carried out in Catalonia, as well as “the intense contacts and the number of meetings between the agents responsible for Russian interference in the independence movement and the regional government of the autonomous community of Catalonia”.
Thus, with the adoption of this resolution, the European Parliament calls on the competent Spanish authorities to continue, intensify and swiftly conclude their investigations into the reported cases of Russian interference, in particular those linked to Catalan pro-independence groups.
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This news was originally published in Aquí Europa, with whose authorization we reproduce it.
