Rule of law must be respected by all EU Member States – regardless of which party is in power

Yesterday afternoon, the Spanish judiciary presented its formal accusations against former members of the Catalan Government. The judge accuses them of rebellion and ordered provisional imprisonement for five of them; adding them to the four that have been already in jail since last October. Two former Greens/EFA MEPs, Oriol Junqueras and Raül Romeva are now in prison.

Commenting of the judge's decision, Greens/EFA Presidents Ska Keller and Philippe Lamberts stated:

"The judge’s decision is completely disproportionate to dictate provisional imprisonement. We see no grounds for an accusation of rebellion which, as noted by several Spanish and International lawyers, requires a violent act, something that did not occur in the case of the former Catalan government members or pro-independence civil society leaders.

"We urgently call for a new Catalan government to be appointed by the parliament so that political negotiations within Catalonia and with the central government can be started in order to find a political exit to the current deadlock.

"We call on the European Commission to mediate and try to promote dialogue and negotiation and enforcing respect for fundamental rights. Rule of law and democratic freedoms need to be respected by all Member States regardless which political party is in power.”