Cs has ended up alone in the Spanish Congress over its proposal for an investigatory committee into last summer's attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils, during a highly-charged debate which saw Albert Rivera's party accused of "opportunism", "perversion" and "mean-spirited". Among the criticisms were an alleged desire to link the independence movement and terrorism, according to PSOE; an attempt to attack the independence movement, according to EAJ (Basque Nationalist Party); the fact that the investigation in the courts is under an injunction, according to PDeCAT, ERC and Unidos Podemos-En Comú; and their "political profiteering", according to the PP.
Cs deputy Juan Carlos Girauta called for a commission to investigate the attacks on the 17th and 18th August last year, noting that such a commission was formed after the attacks in Madrid on 11th March 2004. "Are the dead from Barcelona less dead?" he said. The deputy demanded to know whether the so-called Ripoll imam was "monitored or recruited" by the CNI, Spain's intelligence service; why no "attention" was paid to the instructing judge's warning about the explosion in Alcanar and why Josep Lluís Trapero, Joaquim Forn and Carles Puigdemont "refused" to receive a warning from the CIA.
The harshest reply came from PSOE, who said that Cs were "linking the independence movement and terrorism, which not even the PP of [Ángel] Acebes and [Jaime] Mayor Oreja did". "That is perversion. They don't want an investigation commission, but to find out how many more points they can get in the polls," said Felipe Jesús Sicilia. "They've not been shy about using terrorism for the political confrontation", given that in the motion's text it said that the public should know whether the independence process had affected the coordination of the anti-terror fight.
Sicilia received "insults" from Girauta from his seat which PSOE spokesperson Margarita Robles insisted he take back. The Catalan politician did so, but complained about PSOE's harsh accusations.
The highly-charged debate led PP to come out in defence of PSOE. Deputy José Alberto Martín Toledano denounced the quarrel and said that Cs' proposal "was dividing the society". "A monument to political opportunism, many, many contradictions. On the one hand they ask for an investigation commission and then say that they don't want political responsibility. If you want to analyse the facts there's already a commission of the anti-jihadist pact where yesterday the director of CISCO [Intelligence Centre for Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime] told them that the case was under an injunction," he said.
From EAJ, Mikel Legarda said that it wasn't the way to achieve "better preparation" in the face of the terrorist threat. The deputy then urged Cs to "determine" responsibility in the courts and the established forums: the secretariat of State for Security and the Security Board. Legarda said that, instead, they were looking for something to use against the independence process. "The throw suspicion on the supposed uncoordination and errors of the independence process. You don't do that in a commission, but through dialogue," he said.
PDeCAT deputy Jaume Guillaumes became animated, saying that Forn was in prison "for political reasons, after defeating the jihadist cell", along with Oriol Junqueras, Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixart. Guillaumes expressed regret that Cs hadn't accept the amendment his party had proposed asking for explicit recognition of the work carried out by the Mossos (Catalan police). "They're talking to us about a theory about the CIA refuted by much of the media," he said. Finally, he called for any commission to be postponed until there is no gag order.
ERC's deputy spokesperson, Gabriel Rufián, charged Cs with defending a "patriotism" more about "wearing bracelets" with the Spanish flag on them than "finding out the truth about what is happening in their country". He made this comment after citing a list of the unknowns in the case: that in 2005 the imam's telephone was seized by order of a judge over possible links with Al Qaeda and that the CNI had alleged contact with him. Rufián noted that ERC and PDeCAT had asked minister Juan Ignacio Zoido to appear on the subject, but the Congress's board didn't accept the proposal.
For Unidos Podemos-En Comú, Lucía Martínez announced their abstention. First, they complained that Cs hadn't tried to reach an agreement with the other parliamentary groups. "They want to cause a stir about what happened," she said. "They're not thinking about the victims, they want the political erosion of their opponent. They're using the attack to discredit specific institutions and security forces," she said. "It's sad to read the proposal, it's overflowing with demagoguery," she accused before asking them to avoid "partisan" and "mean-spirited" behaviour.