Catalan government urges Europe to sanction Spain for "tarnishing the EU’s image"

The Catalan government has launched its international offensive. Halfway through the day of the referendum, and following numerous images of Spanish riot police charging voters, Catalonia’s Minister of the Presidency, Jordi Turull, and Foreign Minister Raül Romeva held a joint press conference to urge Europe to adopt measures and study possible sanctions against Spain for its actions in Catalonia today: "It is tarnishing the EU’s image as a guarantor of democracy and respect for Human Rights," declared Romeva.

The Catalan Minister of Foreign Affairs announced that the Catalan government will initiate the necessary procedures to activate the "prevention and sanction" mechanisms as established in Article 7 of the European Treaty. Romeva announced that the government will call on the European Parliament and the European Commission to urge the EU Council to adopt the mechanisms of control and sanction against Spain that it deems necessary.

Calls for Millo’s resignation

Earlier, in another brief appearance at the Mediapro International Press Center, the Minister of the Presidency, Jordi Turull, called for the resignation of the Spanish government representative in Catalonia, Enric Millo, for being "directly responsible for state-sponsored repression and violence that is reminiscent of the Franco era".

Turull accused Millo of using "language typical of an abuser" when he decried that Catalonia’s insistence on holding the referendum had forced Spain "to do things it did not want to do".

The minister stated that there was an agreement whereby Spain’s two police forces would only act at the request of the Mossos [Catalonia’s police force], contrary to what has happened. Nevertheless, the Interior Ministry's deputy Minister, José Antonio Nieto, denied that the Security Board of Catalonia had any authority to reach an agreement on what protocol should be followed.