Spain's European arrest warrants, arrests, threats of drastic prison sentences and the extension of imprisonment for Catalonia's elected representatives all indicate that Spain has given up the possibility of tackling the Catalan crisis, which is eminently political, through political means. Spain has opted for violence and repression in the hope that it will succeed in preventing the Catalans from politically deciding their future. Their attempt to pass the complex political issue into the field of criminal law, unfortunately, necessarily leads to gross violations of political freedoms and interference with the dignity of the Catalans, who are also EU citizens.
As a result of the agreement on cooperation in criminal matters, now EU members have become an instrument of Spanish persecution of legitimate political considerations and their institutions. The crisis in Catalonia, with the arrest of the former President of the Catalan Government, Carles Puigdemont, thus reaches even more worrying dimensions. The EU's silence is therefore unclear. Fear of potential similar ambitions in different parts of Europe cannot be a reason for this blindfolding, let alone accepting undemocratic government practices.
Fear is not a good counsellor. The EU needs the reputation and faith of Europeans not to veer from its democratic foundations and values. That is why it is time for the EU's appeal to the Spanish government to resolve Catalonia's problem through dialogue and democratic, political means. After all, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which advocates the freedom of thought and expression, will be 70 years old this December.
Milan Kučan was the first president of Slovenia (1991-2002)