The bad faces and the freezing of relations by the Government with Moncloa this April are only part of the memory. Citizen Lab published the espionage with Pegasus to some sixty people from the independence environment and a candle was set up. Perhaps staged. Yesterday it was the investigation committee of the European Parliament who singled out Spain for this case with a preliminary report – subject to amendments and still to be voted on – but this time neither the Generalitat nor the Government have found reasons to reject the dialogue table. It remains unchanged and the forecast to convene it before the end of the year.
And that the Dutch liberal Sophie in 't Veld, rapporteur of the 159-page document, twelve of them dedicated to the Spanish case, assumes 65 cases of espionage, and not only the 18 that the CNI recognized, the latter with judicial authorization. In addition, the MEP remarks that "it is not possible to clarify" the alleged threat to national security invoked by the Executive of Pedro Sánchez to justify espionage.
The one who celebrated the "wake-up call" to the Government while warning that the dialogue is not affected was Meritxell Serret, Minister of Foreign Action. In the press conference after yesterday's Consell Ejecutiu, she assured that "it is evident that the Government will never give up dialogue, negotiation and the democratic way of resolving the conflict". This position of the ERC Government has revolted Junts and the CUP.
In this way, Serret rejected the suspension of the dialogue table, because, as he wanted to influence, espionage "is one more episode of the political conflict" and is part of the end of the repression that the Government demands at the dialogue table. In Madrid, the Moncloa spokeswoman appeared to give an account of the agreements of the Council of Ministers. The question did not even appear in the press conference. Only in huddles with journalists did the government say that "it is the first interested in clarifying the facts." Nor did the text attribute the espionage to Pedro Sánchez, Fernando Grande-Marlaska and Margarita Robles to Morocco alter the rictus of Moncloa.
In addition, there is caution, because the d'In' t Veld document does not provide any evidence of its own. It draws from the Citizen Lab investigation and from some public hearings on the issue. At a press conference in Brussels, the MEP argued that the Spanish Government has not provided information and that what has been reported is scant.
That is why the PP and Cs protested. The orange formation appreciates that the text includes "falsehoods, half-truths or elements" that seek to "reinforce a separatist narrative". This taking into account that In't Veld is from the group Renew, in which Cs is also. The PP says that the report only includes "rumors and suspicions."
The contrast of opinions in the pro-independence ranks is notorious. Serret maintained that the Government feels "very satisfied" with the report and that there are no reasons to break off the dialogue with the Government because "it has made gestures and has assumed commitments" to carry out legislative changes with respect to the intelligence services. He recalled the dismissal of Paz Esteban as director of the CNI.
But in Junts and the CUP they see it differently. Mònica Sales, spokesperson for the postconvergents, demanded that the Sánchez government assume responsibilities. “It is not a real negotiating table; they spy on you while they talk to you”, they recriminate ERC from JxCat. For Laia Estrada, from the CUP, it has been shown that dialogue is unfeasible and she demanded "urgent decisions" from the ERC and the resignation of Grande-Marlaska and Robles.
Be that as it may, Pere Aragonès has presented a complaint that has passed from the investigating court number 29 of Barcelona to the National Court. The Prosecutor's Office asked to transfer it. He considers that the first court is not competent as Aragonès was vice president in January 2020, when it is pointed out that he was spied on.
