The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy and former president of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, showed his “respect” for the political debate in Spain and the formation of the Government of the socialist Pedro Sánchez, but stressed that it is “inevitable” that “certain events” have a European resonance. “I want to emphasize that the Italian Government duly respects the institutional and political dynamics underway in Spain, a country to which we are linked by an ancient friendship and common interests,” he said in the Chamber of Deputies, asked by the legislator of the group “We Moderates” Calogero Pisano.
Tajani, also vice president of the Government and leader of the conservative Forza Italia, pointed out that “in an increasingly interconnected Europe, it is in any case inevitable that certain internal political events will have a resonance in the broader European political debate because they can influence the Union”.
The Italian politician, Princess of Asturias Award for Concord, as president of the European Parliament was very active in defense of legality in Spain during 1-O, he summarized before the parliamentarians the events that have led to the new investiture of the president of the Government acting, Pedro Sánchez. “He was defeated in the Spanish elections of July 23 and has sought the support of small parties, including secessionists, to form a new Government.”
He added that “the delicate point” is that the Catalan parties, “taking advantage of their negotiating power, have linked their support to divisive and controversial concessions from the point of view of the rule of law.” “So much so that there have been demonstrations with hundreds of thousands of people in all the cities of Spain to protest against this agreement,” he said.
The head of Italian diplomacy illustrated that the agreement with the Catalan independentists “evokes a not very precise international mediation mechanism to accompany the future negotiation process on the status of Catalonia”, as well as an amnesty bill presented yesterday in the Parliament. “The legislative proposal includes crimes of particular gravity, such as acts of rebellion against public authority to promote a referendum on the independence of Catalonia that Madrid had prohibited and cancels any act of rebellion for supporting the independence objective,” he stressed.
Regarding the amnesty, he said that it is “a very delicate legal institute in all national systems.” And paraphrasing Felipe González, he clarified: “Amnesty and self-determination do not enter into the Constitution.” Given “these obvious critical points”, Tajani explained that the European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, “has written to the Spanish Government to request detailed information and has demanded the Commission’s commitment to the protection of fundamental values and the rule of law.” of the Union”.
But he also acknowledged “some surprise” because another commissioner, the Economy Commissioner, Paolo Gentiloni, whom he did not mention, “has dared to express support for the agreement, declaring it coherent with the European democratic model” at the socialist congress in Malaga. A support expressed “even before the Spanish Government has provided the clarifications requested by the Commission.”