The former councilor and MEP of Junts Toni Comín, a fugitive from Justice for his involvement in the events of the process judged by the Supreme Court, has attended the appearance that Yolanda Díaz gave this Thursday in her capacity as Minister of Labor and vice president of the Government of Spain at the headquarters of the European Parliament in Brussels on the occasion of the semester of the Spanish Presidency of the EU. At the end of the event, the vice president approached the independence leader and they greeted each other with a hug.
Last Monday, the acting vice president already met with Comín and with the leader of Junts, Carles Puigdemont, despite both leaders being fugitives from Spanish Justice. After that appointment, the Government justified that Díaz attended as leader of the Sumar political party and not as vice president of the Executive. This new meeting took place, however, in an official event as acting vice president.
With two kisses, smiles and kind words. This was the meeting this Thursday between Yolanda Díaz and Toni Comín. The Government attempted to disguise the surprise visit that Díaz paid to Carles Puigdemont on Monday, with the argument that he came as the leader of Sumar. That meeting, however, raised blisters in La Moncloa and in the PSOE and a real storm of criticism in the opposition parties, in the media and on social networks. Reproaches that were reproduced yesterday after the new images of the affectionate greeting between Díaz and Comín in an event to which the former attended exclusively in her capacity as a member of the Government of Spain.
Neither before nor after his speech before the MEPs did Díaz want to stand before journalists to answer questions about his meeting with Puigdemont. He also did not want to reply to the reproaches that MEPs Rosa Estaràs (PP) and Jordi Cañas (Ciudadanos) threw at him during the session.
The first described the meeting with Puigdemont as “a full-fledged attack on the European rule of law.” “Do you think that more Europe can be built by negotiating the future of a great nation like Spain with a fugitive from justice in search and capture and putting the rule of law on its knees?” she asked him. “A vice president on behalf of all citizens cannot and should not embrace corruption, nor a fugitive from justice in search and capture as you did with laughter and a pompous exhibitionist performance,” Estaràs concluded.
Díaz dodged the barrage by accusing the MEP and the PP of showing an “absolute disinterest in people’s lives”, for “losing the opportunity to talk about work, about the future of Europe, and outlining people’s lives in “an appearance that is of utmost importance for the European project.”
Nor did she respond to Cañas’ reproach when he stated: “I prefer to see her here speaking in public with lights and stenographers and not in a hidden room with those who wanted to violate democracy.”
About to end the appearance, MEP Comín, a fugitive like Puigdemont, made an appearance at the Commission, whom Díaz greeted with two kisses. “I have reached the end,” he said. “But you have arrived,” she replied affably. Afterwards, the vice president hurriedly left the room without answering the questions from the press.
The Ministers of Inclusion and Social Security, José Luis Escrivá, also appeared yesterday in the European Parliament; Education, Pilar Alegría; Universities, Joan Subirats and Culture and Sports, Miquel Iceta. All of them were brought to light, either by the press or by some MEP, about Díaz’s controversial meeting with Puigdemont and the negotiations with Junts with a view to Sánchez’s investiture after payment with an amnesty law for all those involved in the processes.
Alegría chose to contrast the brave attitude of his party with the “sterile paralysis” that he sees in the PP to seek solutions to the secessionist challenge. The head of Education and spokesperson for the PSOE insisted on the argument repeated in recent days by all members of the Government according to which the negotiations on a hypothetical amnesty will be carried out “within the constitutional framework.”
Iceta assured that “what is necessary is that there be a reunion and coexistence.” And he confirmed that “in Catalonia legality was only broken when the PP governed.”
Subirats stated that “there is an open negotiation.” And he added: “What I do know is that if Feijóo’s investiture is not achieved on the 27th, there will have to be another vote and that gives us two months to look for an alternative.” Escrivá also spoke out, pointing out that “the Government is negotiating with complete discretion and within the framework of the Constitution.”