Catalan foreign minister Alfred Bosch made an appeal to the international community on Saturday morning from Reykjavík, in the conference he gave entitled 'Catalonia: What is happening?' at the Icelandic capital's Culture House. In the presence of the speaker of the Icelandic parliament, Steingrímur J. Sigfússon, he called for democracy and civil rights to be defended - everywhere.
Also taking part in the event were former Icelandic interior minister, Ögmundur Jonasso, and University of Edinburgh professor of public law and human rights, Elisenda Casañas. In addition, other Icelandic politicians such as MPs Rósa Björk and Þórhildur Sunna Ævarsdóttir were present.
The Catalan minister told his audience: "We had a dream - of being free citizens in our country, able to decide about our future. Like you in Iceland did too, facing your own reality, starting around a hundred years ago, and in the way that others have tried to do, like the Scots." But, said Bosch, in the light of the police crackdown on the October 1st 2017 referendum, "some people say we were too innocent."
Bosch also described the evolution of events in Catalonia and Spain from October 2017 to the present. "We are really worried - obviously, about our colleagues facing jail and those in exile - but we're also worried about Spain, because we believe that it is making a huge historical mistake," he said. The minister said that the current trial of independence leaders "only puts the Spanish judicial system under more pressure, apart from the tension that it generates in the political system."
"The Catalan republic must be achieved in a democratic, peaceful and civilized way. Before we are republicans, we are democrats." He added: "We have many fundamental elements in common with Iceland and we have to learn a lot about the process which you followed."
Alfred Bosch has also had meetings with several political figures and members of Icelandic civil society.