19.06.2014 - 02:01
The liberal group Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) in the European Parliament approved on Tuesday the admission of MEPs from UPyD and Ciutadans, thanks to the votes in favor of two thirds of the group and despite the opposition from CDC and PNB. These pro-sovereignty forces were able to force the passage of a compromise to create a working group to study the right to decide and the institutional formulas for expressing the democratic will of the people. One of the men who fought on the front lines to avoid the entry of the two populist and pro-Spanish unionist political forces is Marc Guerrero (Twitter), vice-president of the European liberals.
In this interview, Guerrero denounces the State’s machinations against Catalonia’s independence process within a European framework and explains that he has experienced the dirty tactics from up close. He is of the opinion that CDC should stay in the liberal group and warns UPyD and Ciutadans that they could end up being expelled, just as other parties were a few years back, because they didn’t act democratically, and they did not defend liberal principles.
You suffered a significant defeat with the entry of UPyD and Ciutadans into the liberal group. What do you plan to do?
We worked to block the membership of both of these two parties, which are not liberal and have antidemocratic tendencies. But we weren’t successful. But something very important happened: Before the entry of the two unionist liberal parties, all of the members of the parliamentary group approved a document that explicitly underscored the right to decide of the Catalan people. Therefore, the European liberal family, the whole parliamentary group, has offered explicit support to the right to decide and any party that forms part of the group must also do so. In other words, it is Ciutadans and UPyD who are being inconsistent.
The text approved Tuesday is not as explicit as you say.
It’s explicit because it recognizes the two documents that were approved these past few months. On the one hand, the Liberal International’s resolution from Rotterdam which very clearly defends that which the Catalans decide at the ballot boxes. On the other, the manifesto approved in London by the European Liberal Party which says that Europe must be based on democracy and the right to decide of its peoples. In addition to the reference to both of these documents, another step was taken. A space has been created in the European Parliament to deal with the right to decide, the independence of Catalonia, Scotland and whomever else, and the integration of the new states in the EU. We have created a working group that will be comprised of members of the Liberal Group and that will incorporate MEPs from other groups, including the Scottish independentists, the Flemish, and others. It’s an important step toward pushing the matter even more onto the front page of the European agenda.
You said you would resign as vice-president of the ALDE if CDC’s objectives were not fulfilled in Tuesday’s vote. Now that both UPyD and Ciutadans are joining the party, wouldn’t you have to resign?
I have to remind you that Friday, in the council meeting for the European Liberal Party, with representatives of all of the parties that it comprises, I said that I would resign if the Catalans’ right to decide was not respected and if CDC’s demands were not met. I’m not going to resign because it has been amply demonstrated that the first point has been recognized. With respect to the second question, which refers to Convergència’s conditions, I am ready to do whatever is required of me by my party. If the party decides that it doesn’t want to stay in this group because it has not been respected, I will not wait even a second to hand in my resignation.
What’s the main reason the group has accepted these populist, non-liberal, or not very democratic political parties?
There are two determining factors. First, the pressure there has been in all of the negotiations in order to create a new European government, designate commissaries, the presidencies of the parliamentary commissions, the president and the table of the president, etc. There is pressure because there is very little distance between the various parliamentary groups; everyone wants to get in on the action. There is a struggle to see who will win third place in the EU chamber. That’s the first thing, and it’s important. But there is a second thing that must also be taken into account: there is a true state operation attempting to undermine Catalonia’s independence process within the European framework. And part of that operation, among other things, includes pushing CDC out of the liberal group. I am completely sure because these past weeks I have experienced very strange things, and witnessed lots of dirty tactics. The man who would be happiest if Convergència left the liberal group would be [Spanish Foreign Affairs] Minister Margallo. The state operation is underway and they have used all means possible to corner us. And Tuesday we aborted the state operation to undermine the Catalan process in Europe.
What is this dirty war like?
The meetings with ambassadors and the Spanish diplomatic corps with a variety of MEPs are constant. And the pressure never lets up. And it come at a moment when, against our will, the EU is a club of states. The decisions of who will preside over the European Council and who will form part of the Commission are made by the member states. Among which is Spain. And Spain puts conditions and imposes its will. For example, they can say “if you want this post, you have to expel the Catalan nationalists from the third European force”.
Do you mean the Spanish Government has offered a position to Verhofstadt in exchange for accepting UPyD and Ciutadans?
I didn’t say that. I said that the Spanish Government finds itself in the middle of a state operation and is deploying a very harsh dirty war. They use all the tools at their disposal. As well as their influence when it comes time to divvy up choice political positions.
CDC prepared a dossier with press clippings and documentation so that the leaders and members of the Liberal group could see the anti-democratic, disrespectful and belligerent attitudes of these parties for themselves. It seems like this dossier didn’t have much of an effect.
The public declarations made by these parties in and outside parliamentary sessions was described. Comments made on social networks were as well. The objective was to show how they work as well as their aggressive nature. You have to keep in mind that the pressure for the third position in the parliament and the operation of the state against independence have been very important factors that we were unable to completely counteract. But I am convinced that the MEPs in the Parliament and in our group will realize how these two parties think and act. We saw it already in the first histrionic speech given by one of those new members [referring to the threats from Ciutadans to bring CDC to court]. The groups are open. Experience tells us that some parties have been expelled from their own groups because they didn’t behave democratically or, like what happened in our own group, they didn’t respect liberal principles. We’ll see what happens from here on out. I believe that it’s important to take a valium and hold on because the alternative, which is leaving the group, is what they want. It’s not in our interest as a country.
Do you mean it’s a positive thing to share a parliamentary group with UPyD and Ciutadans?
Our responsibility is to make the decisions that we find most positive in each moment for our country and for the independence process. We are living a historic moment. The coming weeks and months will be very intense, and we are very aware of that fact. We have to evaluate our assets, which are plentiful. I think that our leaving now would be like an expulsion. And we would be abandoning a fundamental space that is in constant contact with fourteen governments and all of the relationships that that implies, which I believe have been very useful to directing these decisive months for Catalonia.
Tremosa has always recognized that he has worked very well with MEPs from the European Free Alliance and the Greens group. Is that the most obvious solution?
I insist that I think the best option is what we have done so far, which is staying in the Liberal Group and seeing how things evolve. We have to see if the group responds to our interests now and in the future. And we have to observe something else. Cross-party Catalan representation in the European Parliament, which I think is fundamental, has worked very well, especially with ICV and ERC. The image of unity that these last few years has been maintained, whatever the decision that we end up taking with respect to our own group. The freedom of vote allows you to take joint action as long as it is deemed convenient. The European Parliament is not as restrictive as the Catalan and Spanish ones. This cross-party character needs to be there, and it will be there.
Therefore, you wouldn’t look favorably at moving to the EFA or following the Flemish to join the British Tories.
With respect to our options to join other groups, there are many choices. In our case, there are two groups, the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) and the Greens-EFA who have positive aspects and also negative ones. In ECR, we would share a group with members of the extreme right and with euroskeptics. And we are neither of those things. And in EFA we would end up isolated from high level political negotiations. My position is that our principal asset continues to be the Liberal group, because it is one of the majority groups, with 14 parties that govern their states, and because it defends the right to decide.
Is the acceptance of UPyD and Ciutadans to the parliamentary group the first step toward them joining the European Liberal Party and the Liberal International?
They are distinct questions. In the EU parliamentary group, there are formations that aren’t part of the European Liberal Party. The inverse situation is not possible. That is, there can’t be any MEP of a party that is part of the European Liberal Party that is not a part of ALDE in the parliament. In the case of UPyD and Ciutadans, they will form part of the group, but they will not be in the party. They have not asked to join and we have not considered the option.
