Some sensibilities were ruffled yesterday by the letter sent by MEPs from Catalonia's Junts party to their European parliamentary colleagues, denouncing the presence at a memorial mass for dictator Francisco Franco of Spain's opposition leader, Pablo Casado. The email, reporting on an incident last Saturday which had even made it to the pages of The Guardian, was not to the liking of Dolors Montserrat, Spanish MEP and a Popular Party (PP) colleague of Casado, responded with an email of her own to all members of the chamber denying that Casado "had taken part in a tribute mass to Franco". "This is simply not true and, unfortunately, a new example of fake news and disinformation that our institution should always avoid," said the PP politician.
Without sharing any basis for denying the PP leader's widely-reported presence at the mass, Montserrat asks the Parliament to take measures to prevent this type of message, which she describes as "intentionally false and offensive", from spreading through the official channels of the institution, and for this reason has also written to the president of the chamber, David Sassoli, on the matter.
The letter from MEP Dolors Montserrat
In the email sent yesterday by the three Catalan politicians, Carles Puigdemont, Toni Comín and Clara Ponsatí, they denounced that the "PP has protected the memory of the regime for decades" and warned that this attitude should be "clearly condemned" by the parties with whom this Spanish political group maintains formal ties, as it represents "a stain for the European Popular family."
In the reply, Montserrat says that the PP contributed decisively to Spain's transition to democracy after the death of the dictator and that "four of the seven personalities who wrote the current Constitution" belonged to the political family of the Popular Party.
"Fugitive" MEPs
In the text she recalls that Casado had not even been born when the dictator died and says that the family of the popular leader suffered repression during the Franco regime. "Therefore", she argues, "I am convinced you will understand the Pablo Casado has never taken part in any act or tribute to the dictator".
Finally, she criticises that it is particularly unfortunate that the email comes from MEPs Puigdemont, Comín and Ponsatí, three people she describes as "fugitives from Spanish justice" for having attacked "the Spanish Constitution and the legal order of an EU member state such as Spain, by declaring the independence of Catalonia illegally", and Montserrat recalls that, for this reason, the Spanish judiciary had requested their transfer to Spain and the European Parliament had lifted their parliamentary immunity earlier this year.
Fake news by 'The Guardian'?
The email from the Popular Party MEP received a response from Clara Ponsatí. In a tweet, the Junts member notes that Montserrat is accusing The Guardian, the Europa Press agency and also Francisco Franco Foundation, where the Europa Press report came from - of "spreading fake news about Pablo Casado's attendance at the mass where he prayed for the soul of the dictator."
Image of Clara Ponsatí's tweet
In the main image, the MEP Dolors Montserrat (PP) together with her PP colleague Esteban González Pons / Roberto Lázaro