EU Hypocrisy Spins out of Control
over Catalonia
By Finian Cunningham
October 21,
2017 "Information
Clearing House"
- Russian
President Vladimir Putin called it a “poignant case
of double standards” when he noted how the European
Union is turning a blind eye to Catalonia’s
independence bid – in stark contrast to the bloc’s
interventionist policy elsewhere.
Most notably, Putin contrasted the
case of Kosovo which declared independence from
Serbia in 2008. Then, the EU fervently backed
Kosovo’s breakaway declaration from the Serbian
republic out of deference to Washington’s policy of
dismembering the former Yugoslavia.
So, evidently, the case of Kosovo is
an acceptable secession according to the EU, but not
it seems in the case of Catalonia.
We could also cite Crimea, although
the political circumstances are very different.
Crimea held a referendum to secede
from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation in
March 2014 – after the elected government in Kiev
was overthrown in a violent coup. The point about
Crimea is this: the EU has never stopped harping on
about what it says is the illegality of the Crimean
referendum and Russia’s alleged nefarious
destabilizing role. The EU has slapped several
rounds of economic sanctions on Russia leading to a
grave deterioration in relations.
Nevertheless, arguably, the Crimean
referendum was constitutionally held, whereas the
Kosovo secession came about following NATO military
aggression towards Yugoslavia.
But despite this
hyper-interventionism by the European bloc in the
internal affairs of Ukraine, including the
clandestine backing of the Kiev coup in February
2014, the EU leaders are strangely mute on a crisis
within their own bloc regarding Spain and Catalonia.
The Spanish northeast region,
centered on Barcelona, held a referendum on October
1, which in spite of a vicious police crackdown on
the orders of the central government in Madrid,
returned a majority vote in favor of independence.
The Spanish prime minister Mariano
Rajoy has since rejected the referendum result out
of hand and is now moving to cancel the Catalonian
regional administration, headed up by Catalan
president Carles Puigdemont.
Rajoy’s ruling Popular Party has
shredded the Catalonian plebiscite as “illegal”,
saying it violates the Spanish constitution. Rajoy
has refused to countenance any negotiations with
Puigdemont’s regional administration unless the
referendum is repudiated – a move which would be
humiliating.
The policy of Madrid amounts to
heavy-handed repression. Yet that this repression is
taking place within a European Union member state is
a cause of much disquiet. While the EU governments
bite their lips on the Catalonian matter, by
contrast they seem to always jump to condemn Russia
over alleged repression of minor protests organized
by the dubious dissident Alexei Navalny.
Admittedly, the Catalonian issue is
weighed with complicated legal argument. It is
arguable that the Catalans are acting outside of the
constitution by unilaterally holding the referendum.
Pro-independence Catalans would counter that their
hand was forced owing to years of reluctant attitude
in Madrid to address their separatist aspirations.
There is also a substantial electorate in Catalonia
which is against independence from the rest of
Spain.
However, what is instructive here is
the expedient stance taken by the EU towards the
Spanish-Catalonian dispute. When Mariano Rajoy
attended the EU annual summit before the weekend, he
was roundly greeted by other leaders who closed
ranks in support.
As a Reuters report headlined:
“Catalonia finds no friends among EU leaders”.
French President Manuel Macron said
it was an internal private matter for Spain and
expressed “unity” with Premier Rajoy. German
Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed that the
confrontation must be resolved “within the
constitution” of the Spanish state – thus
delegitimizing the Catalonia referendum, as per
Madrid’s position.
“It’s an internal Spanish matter,”
reiterated Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
Reuters also quoted a senior EU
diplomat, who revealed the cynical calculus being
made by the various government leaders, by saying:
“There is not much to gain from backing Barcelona
and a lot to lose from angering Madrid.”
It was perhaps the equivocating
European Council President Donald Tusk who took the
prize for shallow expedience.
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“It is not on our agenda,” said Tusk
to media reporters. “All of us have our own
emotions, opinions, assessments but formally
speaking there is no space for an EU intervention
[in the Spanish-Catalonian dispute].”
Of course, the tacit concern here is
that the EU does not want to exacerbate separatist
movements elsewhere across the 28-member union.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker
admitted that Catalonia could be a “domino effect”,
providing precedent for further secessionist calls
within Belgium, Italy and Scotland.
Furthermore, if Brussels were to
mediate in Spain it could find itself accused of
interfering in sovereign affairs, thereby adding
fuel to populist and Eurosceptic parties that have
emerged like a hot rash across Europe, from the
Netherlands, Denmark, France, Germany, Poland, to
Hungary and lately in Austria and Czech
Republic with Sebastian
Kurz and Andrej Babis, respectively.
Politically, the agnostic view of the
EU toward the Catalonian question might be
understandable based on vested interests of European
governments. But where is the principle in that
position?
By ignoring the issue, the EU leaves
itself open to criticism of being unscrupulous and
of peddling double standards. After all, the bloc’s
foundational principles state that it shows
“solidarity” with the democratic rights of minority
groups within the union.
Speaking at the Valdai discussion
forum in Sochi this week, Putin not only pointed out
the glaring hypocrisy and double standards of the EU
with regard to Catalonia and Kosovo. He also said
that the EU’s meddling in the internal affairs of
Serbia back in 2008 served to unleash the politics
of separatism across Europe – that has come back to
haunt Brussels.
At a time when EU leaders are
struggling to maintain political and moral authority
in the eyes of their electorates, their self-serving
and cowardly pandering toward Madrid over Catalonia
is another grievous blow to their image.
All the self-righteous declarations
by European governments about democratic principles
is seen to be little more than idle rhetoric that
can be discarded at any moment if it is expedient to
do so.
Finian
Cunningham has written extensively on international
affairs, with articles published in several
languages. He is a Master’s graduate in Agricultural
Chemistry and worked as a scientific editor for the
Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, England,
before pursuing a career in newspaper journalism. He
is also a musician and songwriter. For nearly 20
years, he worked as an editor and writer in major
news media organisations, including The Mirror,
Irish Times and Independent.
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