Last chance to establish dialogue

Ahead of decisive meetings in Spain later this week, the Presidents of the Greens in the European Parliament, Ska Keller and Philippe Lamberts urge the European Institutions to offer mediation and call on both the Spanish and the Catalan government to come back to dialogue. Ska Keller comments:  

"The coming days will be absolutely decisive. The actions of EU leaders and the Spanish but also Catalan governments will determine if we face dangerous escalation or will have one last chance to establish dialogue and find a peaceful solution.

"Rather than backing one side or the other, as President Tajani did, the European institutions need to urge both parties to talk. They need to offer mediation to facilitate the dialogue. It’s a shame that EU leaders didn’t discuss it at the summit last week."

Philippe Lamberts adds:

"It would be foolish to dismiss this an internal Spanish problem. Presidents Juncker and Tajani might want to ignore this crisis in an effort to protect their EPP colleague Rajoy. But if they don’t act now, this political, social and economic crisis will only escalate further, leaving the EU to deal with a much bigger problem.

"This is a time for calm heads. The Spanish government must refrain from suspending Catalan autonomy. In turn, the Catalan Parliament needs to refrain from declaring unilateral independence and should attend the senate session in Madrid to open the possibility for dialogue."