Imprisonment of Puidgemont is not the Way
"With the imprisonment of the former President of the autonomous community Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, the governments of Germany and Spain are heading the completely wrong way," declares the President of the European Left and member of German parliament, Gregor Gysi.
What would we say if an ex-Minister President of a German federal state, say Bavaria, would have been arrested?
An agreement jointly approved by the parliaments of Madrid and Catalonia was already granting Catalonia more autonomy. The party of the current Minister President back then proceeded against this agreement. This position of ’No concessions to Catalonia’ aggravated the situation and let to the widespread wish for the secession of Catalonia from Spain. If one doesn’t know when it’s time to stop winning, one will rather lose.
The recent worsening of the situation in Spain can only be solved politically, not by imprisonments and convictions. Like Belgium, Germany should keep its hands off assisting the Spanish government in detaining Catalans and taking responsibility for a further escalation of the conflict, thus becoming part of it.
Assisting in finding a political solution to the conflict would be considerably more helpful.