‘You’re facing the END of Europe’ Catalan leader Puigdemont in chilling warning to EU
CATALAN leader Carles Puigdemont today warned EU leaders they are facing the “end of the idea of Europe” if they fail to take action over Spain’s “violent and oppressive” response to its independence referendum.
By NICK GUTTERIDGE, BRUSSELS CORRESPONDENT
Express.co.uk
Tue, Oct 31, 2017
The ousted regional president told a packed press conference in Brussels that Madrid had violated “the very basis of the values on which Europe is founded” and that EU inaction would come “at a very high cost”.
Mr Puigdemont, who has fled Spain to avoid charges of rebellion which carry a 30 year jail term, said he would not seek asylum in Belgium but also refused to rule out a long stay in Northern Europe.
However, he was immediately mocked for taking flight by Spanish MPs and senior European politicians including Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt, who said he had “left Catalonia in chaos and devastation”.
At a press conference in central Brussels attended by several hundred journalists, Mr Puigdemont and seven of his senior ministers railed against the actions of the Madrid Government and called on the EU to act.
He said: “To the international community and especially to Europe, I ask them to react. The Catalan issue is at the very basis of the values on which Europe is founded – democracy, freedom, freedom of expression, hospitality, non-violence.
“Allowing the Spanish Government to refuse dialogue, tolerating the violence exercised by far-right groups, the imposition by ,military means and our imprisonment for 30 years, is to end with the idea of Europe.”
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