EU must defend freedom of expression in Spain
Press release from EFA MEP J-M Terricabras (Catalunya)
Catalan MEP Josep-Maria Terricabras has called upon the European Commission to defend the right to freedom of expression in Spain and to mediate with the Spanish Government in respect of Catalonia's forthcoming referendum on independence.
He addressed his remarks directly to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, during today's debate in the European Parliament following the annual 'State of the Union' speech.
This content was blocked.
Do you want to display the content of the domain “www.youtube.com”?
If you consent to the use of social plugins on our website, the Greens/EFA in the European Parliament processes your connection data (access data and terminal device data) and your user behaviour data as well as account data if you are logged in with a social media platform account and sets cookies on your terminal device for the purpose of external presentation of the company and external communication with interested parties.
The storage period of the above-mentioned data relating to you is for the duration of the browser session.
If you are logged into your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Spotify or SoundCloud account and use its social plugin, you enable the respective providers to assign your surfing behaviour directly to your personal profile. You can prevent this by logging out of your account.
The following processors are recipients of the data relating to you that is processed via the social plugins:
- Facebook - Meta Platforms Ireland Limited, 4 Grand Canal Place Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, 2 Ireland, and Meta Platforms, Inc., 1 Hacker Way Menlo Park, California 94025, CA, USA.
- Instagram - Meta Platforms Ireland Limited, 4 Grand Canal Place Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, 2 Ireland, and Meta Platforms, Inc., 1 Hacker Way Menlo Park, California 94025, CA, USA.
- X (formerly Twitter) - Twitter International Unlimited Company, One Cumberland Place, Fenian Street, Dublin 2, D02 AX07 Ireland, and X Corp., 1355 Market Street, Suite 900, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA.
- YouTube - Alphabet, Inc., 901 Cherry Ave., San Bruno, CA 94066, USA.
- Spotify - Spotify AB, Regeringsgatan 19, 111 53 Stockholm, Sweden, and Spotify USA Inc., 150 Greenwich Street, Floor 62, New York, NY 10007, USA.
- SoundCloud - SoundCloud Global Limited & Co. KG, Rheinsberger Str. 76/77, 10115 Berlin, Germany, and SoundCloud Inc., 71 5th Avenue, 3rd Floor, New York 10003, NY, USA.
- Giphy: Giphy, Inc., 416 W 13th St, New York, NY, USA.
- Streamovations, Pannestraat 42, 8630 Veurne, Belgium.
We use processors in the USA. The EU Commission has adopted a decision on an adequate level of data protection for the USA. The legal basis for this third country transfer is the transfer of data on the basis of an adequacy decision pursuant to Art. 47 EUDPR.
In accordance with Art. 23 EUDPR, you can withdraw your consent at any time via the cookie banner on the website or by sending an email to info@greens-efa.eu. A later withdrawal of your consent will no longer affect the lawfulness of the processing carried out up to that point in accordance with Art. 7 para. 3 sentence 3 EUDPR.
Further information can be found under link.
Josep-Maria Terricabras is President of the European Free Alliance Group in the European Parliament and Vice President of the Greens/EFA group.
The Catalan Parliament, with a mandate from the electorate, has voted by absolute majority to hold a referendum on independence on 1 October 2017. But the Spanish government refuses to engage in a dialogue and is attempting to impede the Catalan people's right to democratically decide their own future.
Terricabras called upon the commission to mediate in the situation and to defend the right to freedom of expression.
Speaking in the debate, Josep-Maria Terricabras said:
"Mr Juncker, hundreds of thousands of Catalans repeatedly called for a referendum on self-determination, as happened in Scotland.
"Yet, the Government of Spain has never even wanted to talk about it.
"The Parliament of Catalonia voted in favour of the referendum law by absolute majority.
"But, as if voting were a crime, the Government of Spain has reacted by taking legal action against the Parliament of Catalonia and parliamentarians, and by issuing threats against the government and more than a thousand public officials and the Catalan media that they should not speak or act in favour of the referendum.
"These are clear and unacceptable attacks on freedom of expression.
"I'm not asking the Commission to take a view on Catalan independence, this is a matter for Catalans. But yes, I would ask you to mediate with the Government of Spain in favour of an agreement on the referendum. And I ask you: why does the Commission not intervene to defend freedom of expression in Spain? In other countries it surely would."