Clare Daly, Member of the European Parliament, has strongly criticised in clear terms the human rights-violating situation in Catalonia and the immoral silence of the European institutions regarding the years of serious and systematic human rights violations committed by the Spanish state in Catalonia. The fact that she has now been denied the opportunity to express her views on political prisoners in Spain in an explanatory note to a report on the situation of fundamental rights in the European Union of 19 November 2020 is a scandal, especially as she herself is the rapporteur responsible, who has thus been censored and prevented from exercising her right to freedom of expression:
«Report on the situation of Fundamental Rights in the European Union — Annual Report for the years 2018-2019 (2019/2199(INI)) — Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs - Rapporteur: Clare Daly»
A European Union that does so ignores its own fundamental values, renders itself implausible and raises serious doubts about the meaning of the European project. A European Union that ignores the serious human rights violations that Spain is committing against the Catalan people and now also against thousands of Catalans who are being persecuted by the Spanish judiciary for political reasons cannot, must not and will not endure because it will lose its moral raison d'être! There is not much time left to correct the historic mistake that the European Union has made and is making since 1 October 2017. It is in the process of destroying itself by destroying the foundations of its own fundamental values. The dimension of the Catalonia conflict for the future of the European Union still does not seem to be fully understood by its representatives. In the middle of Europe, a people is being subjected to massive repression contrary to human rights, imperative international law and also competent national law are being massively violated by the highest courts of a Member State of the European Union, and the European Union remains silent and agrees! Such a Europe will not find a permanent place in the hearts of the people, and Britain will not be the last state to leave this Union if it does not remember its fundamental values and protect and defend the human rights of the Catalan people!
The Catalan news agency Vilaweb has published an extract of Clare Daly's speech in English:
There were and are people who prefer to remain silent in the face of such injustice. They kept silent from 1933 to 1945, from 1936 to 1975 and they are silent now. Those who remain silent agree! Will they one day also claim not to have known what happened in Spain and Catalonia from 1936 to 1975 and from 2010 to 2020?