This Friday, Carles Puigdemont accused the Government of Pedro Sánchez of “hypocrisy” for the recognition of the Palestinian State that will take effect on May 28 along with other European countries such as Ireland and Norway.
The former Catalan president and factual leader of Junts has contrasted this issue with the fact that Spain “is one of the few countries in the European Union (EU) that does not recognize the independence of Kosovo although the EU already has diplomatic relations” with that country. .
In a short video shared on his social networks, he has also criticized that Spain “denies the right of self-determination to the Sahrawi people” and that it is “an ally of Turkey in the repression of the Kurdish people.” “It might seem that Spain has become a defender of the right to self-determination as a mechanism for conflict resolution, but that is not the case,” the independence leader remarked. “Double standards greatly weaken the credibility of European democracies when they practice it abroad and do not practice it at home,” Puigdemont concluded.
The JxCat candidate in the European elections on June 9, former councilor Toni Comín, spoke along similar lines today in a radio interview on Ser Catalunya. “Spain is today the only State in the European Union that does not recognize Kosovo,” he remarked. “Why Palestine and Kosovo no?” He asked himself. Furthermore, he pointed out that for Junts the only solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine is that of the two states, defended by the United Nations (UN), although he has asked to “condemn equally and with the same resoundingness” acts committed by both sides.
It so happens that some members of the Jewish community located in Catalonia, supporters of JxCat, are not very happy with the position expressed by Comín in the European Parliament a few weeks ago, in which he equally condemned Hamas and the offensive of the Israeli army and called to stop what he considers “a genocide” and stop the arms trade from Europe to Israel. In addition, he also supported the immediate release of all hostages by Hamas. There are several messages in that sense on the networks.
The messages of the number two candidate, Neus Torbisco, are also disdained by that sector, which, according to sources consulted, differentiates what Comín and Torbisco think from the traditional position of the convergent and post-convergent space with respect to the State of Israel, reflected in the votes that have taken place in the administrations throughout these years. In fact, former president Jordi Pujol, who now supports Junts, was recently seen at the Barcelona Jewish community’s tribute to the victims of the Holocaust. However, the Junts group in the Congress of Deputies remained silent regarding this matter at the beginning of the week.
A few weeks ago, before the campaign for the Parliamentary elections on May 12 started, when this issue was already on the table, the former Catalan president pointed out on the Més 324 program that this solution was an “occurrence.” “Trying to resolve a conflict directly from Spain that the entire world is not capable of resolving seems very daring to me,” said the former president, who admitted that “the Palestinians have the right to self-determination” but added that it is a “very complex” issue. ”.
“Recognition is a much more complicated issue than simple will. There are many different actors involved,” Puigdemont explained. “Who do we have to do it with? Should we talk to Hamas? With the Palestinian Authority? What is happening with Iran and Hizbullah?” the independence leader questioned. “All of this is very complex,” he stated then. “But everything that is recognition of the right to self-determination begins by recognizing it in your own home,” he concluded.
