"Locking up democratically elected leaders is more than a bridge too far," Flanders premier Geert Bourgeois said in a statement. "I'm perplexed that something like that is possible in today's Europe." Bourgeois is obviously talking about Catalonia and the former pro-independence leader of the region Carles Puigdemont being in Belgium. Other members of the former Catalan government cabinet, who stayed in Spain, are not so lucky; they have been sent to jail. But at the end of the day it doesn't say much for democracy when democratically elected leaders are jailed for wanting something which at least half the Catalan people want: independence from Spain. Surely they could have been put under house arrest or had their passports taken away. Was it really necessary to send them to jail?
Jailing Catalan leaders
Palma04/11/2017 00:00
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Mr Bremner, you still haven’t answered my question. What facts ?Also, may I ask you what Spanish press you read to back up your opinion ?
Dermot is right if the answer to negotiations is No No No then you can expect a frustrated response. Resent examples are the EU saying No No No to David Cameron's attempted negotiations and The EU resonse to the current Brexit negotiations i.e. No No No. Unfortunately Junckers and Tusks EU are inward looking and cannot entertain differences between countries. Most European countries would be more successful outside the confines of the EU commission.
What “facts” ?
A reasonable request that I very much doubt that the parties seeking independence would accept. They would declare independence if they won by the smallest majority ( 1 vote ) and then it would be back to square one again.
I totally agree, but you are aware that you are one of the few editors of a Spanish newspaper actually reporting the facts, let alone offering a contrary opinion to what is Rajoy's line. Eighty years ago you would have been shot, 45 years ago jailed.
It was precisely the attitude taken by Rajoy, which in Northern Ireland by the then Stormont government and subsequent British governments till the 1990's enhanced the IRA and other extremist terror groups. I would have thought that with ETA and Spain's history that they would have realised that dialogue is not NO, NO, NO. If you will not listen and act to reason, the next stage is to create a situation that is unreasonable in the hopes of forcing the issue. Maybe its time for the other parties in Madrid to pull the plug on the PP and force a discussion that could avoid bloodshed and an irrevocable split. Call a valid referendum with some real rules like must have 60% voter participation and must have 75% to win, None of this highly dangerous 50/50 business which is fine if you have a repeated vote every 4- 5 years, but totally unsuitable for life changing decisions.
Jason, you state, quote, “at least half” of the Catalan population. Could you qualify this statement please and tell us where you found this information ? S, it is not the Spanish Government who sent these people to jail. It was the Spanish judiciary who, acting on the request, not orders, which are entirely different terms, of the legal government of Spain, has sent them to jail, backed by laws enshrined in the Spanish Constitution.
The catalán leaders are guilty of treason. Forty years ago their fates would have been much different. They deserve to be in jail.
Incarcerating the leaders is an action that will anger their supporters, and could lead to further serious repercussions The Spanish Government may live to regret their decisions.