The president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, has transferred to the European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, his "concern" about how the Spanish Government "is managing" the case of espionage with the Pegasus program, of which the Catalan leader was a victim.
"I have had the opportunity to express my concern about how the authorities of the Spanish State are handling this case", said Aragonès in statements to the press after meeting in Brussels with the European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, in a meeting that represents the resumption of contacts in Brussels at the highest level between the Generalitat and the Community Executive.
"We have been able to verify that we share concern, that the European institutions are concerned about this issue," added the Catalan chief executive.
The Spanish Justice is investigating the alleged espionage with the Pegasus program of the mobile phones of Aragonès and four senior officials of the Government of Spain, including the Ministers of Defense, Margarita Robles, and Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska.
The Catalan government has been managing this Thursday's meeting with Reynders for months, since last April they sent him a letter after the Pegasus scandal broke out. The meeting between Aragonès and the European Commissioner represents a further step in the normalization of the relationship between the Catalan Government and the Community Executive, after the Catalan President met in Barcelona last May with the Vice President of the Commission, Schinas margaritis.
Earlier, in May, Aragonès had a brief meeting with the President of the Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, also in Barcelona, during an act of the Cercle d'Economia, in which the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, was also present.
"The assessment we make is very positive, in the sense that relations must be normalized", assured the President of the Catalan Government, who stated that "Catalonia is a European territory deeply committed to the community institutions, to the process of European construction".
Aragonès has explained that he has not discussed with Reynders his proposal to agree on an independence referendum with the Spanish Government. Tomorrow he will meet with the Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, to offer Catalonia as a chip design center.
