Spanish ambassador in Germany slams Catalunya pro-independence campaigners

Victoria Morera says the pro-independence campaigners do not actually want the 'dialogue' they have been asking for since long before the October 1 referendum, and slams their 'permanent allusions to Franco's régime', which she calls 'outmoded', 'part of the history of nationalism', and 'playing the victim'.

“Spain is a democratic State,” Sra Morera says in a letter to the Süddeutsche Zeitung (South German News), which she wrote in response to articles in various German media about former Catalunya president Carles Puigdemont's extradition process.

Puigdemont, who has been living in exile in Belgium, was arrested in the German region of Schleswig-Holstein just over the Danish border whilst driving back from a conference in Helsinki.

He was released on bail five days ago after the regional court decided there were no grounds to charge him for 'rebellion', as Spain wishes to do, but say he could still face action for 'misuse of public funds' for forging ahead with the disputed referendum using taxpayers' cash.

Puigdemont is now waiting for the court of Schleswig-Holstein to decide whether to extradite him in accordance with Spain's request.

“Concerning the situation in Catalunya, dialogue can only occur when both parties want it, and that is not the case with the independence movement,” Victoria Morera says in her 'letter to the editor'.

She adds that the pro-secession brigade had been 'invited on eight occasions in the last year' by the central government to present their ideas in Parliament.

They also 'refused' to take part in the Regional Funding Commission and in the Parliamentary Territorial Commission last year, the Spanish ambassador argues.

“Nationalism divides societies, and it is no surprise that, in a European context, the populist and xenophobic parties – including those in Germany – are the ones who support Catalunya's secession.

“Anyone who breaks the law will be brought before the court, whether they are a politician who is corrupt or a politician who is a rebel,” Morera continues.

But she conceded: “We will totally respect any court verdict and also, obviously, the decision of the Territorial Court of Schleswig-Holstein.”

The diplomat recalls that this same court has 'not found Puigdemont to be, in any way, subject to political persecution'.

She also gave her views of the self-styled Committee for the Defence of the Republic (CDR), whose leader has been arrested in connection with protests over Puigdemont's having been taken into custody when a European arrest warrant was issued at the end of March.

She calls them 'anti-system groups' who 'perpetrate attacks, burn wheelie-bins and block motorways'.

“The most radical of the independence supporters still continue with the strategy of protesting in the streets – that is, trying to force a response from State powers by creating tension and violence,” Morera criticises.

Leader of Spain's third-largest political force Podemos, Pablo Iglesias, criticises the CDR leader's arrest, saying a protest along a motorway should never be considered a crime in a modern democracy.

Photograph: Carles Puigdemont leaving Germany's Neumünster prison on Friday, April 6