Offensive in Europe of the Junts, ERC and Bildu MEPs, following the revelations of former Spanish police commissioner José Manuel Villarejo on the intervention of the Spanish National Intelligence Centre (CNI) in the terrorist attacks of August 2017 in Catalonia. In a question to the European Commission, and letters to the Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, and all members of the European Parliament, a group of Catalan and Basque MEPs have denounced that Spanish authorities refuse to investigate the circumstances of the attack that took place in Barcelona on August 17th, 2017 and the role the CNI had in it. Because of this, they ask the European Comission and the European Parliament, as guarantors of the fundamental rights of European citizens, for "a thorough investigation" of Villarejo’s revelations.
The question is signed by Carles Puigdemont, Toni Comín and Clara Ponsatí on behalf of Junts; Diana Riba and Jordi Solé on behalf of ERC, and Pernando Barrena on behalf of Bildu. The MEPs explain that former policeman and Secret Service agent José Manuel Villarejo declared to the judiciary that the Spanish intelligence services knew the plans for the 2017 terrorist attack but did not intervene in order "to scare Catalonia". It recalls that the attack caused 16 deaths, among them citizens of five EU states, as well as 155 wounded of 39 different nationalities, and that Villarejo's words fit with the press’ revelations in which "extensive links" between the head of the terrorist cell and the CNI were documented.
The text recalls that the Spanish government, the PSOE, the PP and Cs "have repeatedly blocked" a commission of inquiry into the connection between the terrorist cell and the CNI; and also that the Spanish judiciary rejected the request of the victims to investigate these allegations.
For all these reasons, the MEPs appeal to the Commission's role as guardian of the treaties that protect human rights in the EU, as well as the rights provided for in the main international human rights instruments and the ECtHR case of law on the right to the truth.
Letter to the Commissioner for Justice
The MEPs also sent a letter to the Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, asking for an in-depth investigation to clarify whether the serious allegations linking Spanish intelligence and the masterminds behind the attacks are true, and determine on the responsibilities derived from them. They argue this is a duty to the victims, to the citizens and to democracy itself.
The same arguments and explanations are presented to all MEPs in the letter they have sent them, in which they also warn of the need to investigate the links between the CNI and its informant and head of the terrorist cell, imam Abdelbaki Es Satty. The MEPs defend the right of the victims to know what happened and, therefore, demand the extent of the CNI’s knowledge about the imminence of the attacks.