EKRE leader in favor of Catalan independence
Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE) parliamentary group chairman Martin Helme said on Saturday that his prior indifference toward to Catalan independence has been replaced with support now that the situation has fundamentally changed.
"The decision of the parliament of Catalonia to declare independence changes the situation fundamentally," Helme said on social media. "I was previously quite indifferent on this subject, as I wasn't convinced that the Catalans and their political elite took seceding from Spain very seriously themselves. But now it is clear that the Catalan leadership is unequivocally committed to independence, and it's equally clear that they have the unwavering support for this of a big percentage of the people."
According to Helme, nobody would be making simply political moves in a situation in which the Spanish government has threatened members of both the regional government and the parliament with a 30-year jail term for treason and one is standing face to face with bloodshed on the streets and serious economic consequences.
In his opinion, Catalan independence was now inevitable. "Equally inevitable is an attempt by the Spanish government to prevent it from happening by force," the Estonian MP continued. "It can no longer be done with the police; what remains is to use the military. Effectively that would mean the occupation of a region within a country in Europe."
Helme said that the Estonian government should under no circumstances go along with the official rhetoric of the EU, which reflectively builds on the hostility of an empire towards national awakening and splitting from a large body.
He said that calls to refrain from violence and proposals to mediate are now overdue, and what one must do is choose sides.
"I support the independence of Catalonia, because it is clear that suppressing the will of the people can only be done by methods which, as we are continually affirmed, are not consistent with the liberal values of the 21st century," Helme concluded. "Once again we are witnessing th appalling use of double standards and hostility towards liberty by the politicals elites of Estonia and the EU."
Editor: Aili Vahtla
Source: BNS