MEPs call for the freedom of their former Catalan colleagues
Press release from EFA MEPs J-M Terricabras and Jordi Solé
Around 40 MEPs in Strasbourg symbolically wore yellow t-shirts in the European Parliament plenary on Wednesday 3 October.
The action was designed to highlight the plight of their former colleagues as MEPs in the Greens / EFA Group, Raül Romeva and Oriol Junqueras, and to call for their release from prison.
Both were members of the Catalan government which held a referendum on independence in October 2018.
The action comes exactly one year on from major demonstrations held in Catalonia to protest against the police violence used during the referendum.
Raül Romeva was a member of the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament from 2004 – 2014, and Vice President from 2009 onwards.
Oriol Junqueras was a member of the European Parliament from 2009 – 2011, and sat with the EFA MEPs of the Greens/EFA group.
Some 40 MEPs from different political groups supported calls to free Romeva and Junqueras, including:
Marco Affronte (Greens/EFA), Marina Albiol (GUE/NGL), Martina Anderson (GUE/NGL), Margret Auken (Greens/EFA), Izaskun Bilbao (ALDE), Lynn Boylan (Greens/EFA), José Bové (Greens/EFA), Reinhard Bütikofer (Greens/EFA), Matt Carthy (GUE/NGL), Michael Cramer (Greens/EFA), Karima Delli (Greens/EFA), Mark Demesmaeker (ECR), Pascal Durand (Greens/EFA), Linéea Engström (Greens/EFA), Jill Evans (Greens/EFA), Eleonora Forenza (GUE/NGL), Rebecca Harms (Greens/EFA), Martin Häusling (Greens/EFA), Maria Heubuch (Greens/EFA), Ian Hudghton (Greens/EFA), Eva Joly (Greens/EFA), Merja Kyllonen (GUE/NGL), Sander Loones (ECR), Marisa Matías (GUE/NGL), Ana Miranda (Greens/EFA), Michèle Rivasi (Greens/EFA), Lola Sánchez Caldentey (Greens/EFA), Molly Scott (Greens/EFA), Lidia Senra (GUE/NGL), Alyn Smith (Greens/EFA), Jordi Solé (Greens/EFA), Igor Soltes (Greens/EFA), Bart Staes (Greens/EFA), Helga Stevens (ECR), Josep-Maria Terricabras (Greens/EFA), Indrek Tarand (Greens/EFA), Ramon Tremosa (ALDE), Miguel Urban (GUE/NGL), Ivo Vajgl (ALDE), Bodil Valero (Greens/EFA), Monika Vana (Greens/EFA), i Marie-Pierre Vieu (GUE/NGL).
