MEPs Josep-Maria Terricabras and Jordi Solé (ERC) and Ramon Tremosa (PDeCAT) sent a question to the European Commission last Friday asking them whether "the fact that the Spanish state would prepare the army to potentially act against a peaceful population, like in Catalonia, complies with article 2 of TEU (Treaty on European Union)". The cited article establishes that the EU is founded on the values of "respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights".
In the text, the MEPs note that on 6th January Spain's Defence minister, María Dolores de Cospedal, admitted that the Spanish army has been ready to act in Catalonia for months.
Taking into account the acts of repression committed by Spanish police on 1st October against the participants in Catalonia's independence referendum, the MEPs ask, also, "how the Commission believe articles 2 and 4 of the TEU can coexist with a clear situation of threatening the use of military force by a member state of the EU against its own population".