The former president of Spain’s Catalonia region, Carles Puigdemont, criticized the Spanish government under Pedro Sanchez for recognizing the state of Palestine.
Puigdemont, who remained silent about the Gaza crisis during the Catalan electoral campaign, now questions the Spanish government’s decision, reminding that Spain has not recognized Kosovo and that Sanchez’s government has ignored the Saharans (residents of Western Sahara, which was a Spanish colony for 89 years).
He criticizes Sanchez’s “double standard” because “the people of Catalonia” have “the same right to self-determination as the people of Palestine.
“In a video posted on his profile on X, Puigdemont emphasizes that the Spanish government announces “in the midst of an armed conflict shaking the world” and “it may seem that the Spanish state has now become a defender of the right to self-determination of peoples as a mechanism for resolving conflicts.”
A stance that “most Catalans have always supported,” says the pro-independence leader of Catalonia. But this is not the case, adds Puigdemont, recalling that Spain “is one of the few European countries” that still does not recognize Kosovo’s independence.”It does not recognize the right of the Europeans of Kosovo to decide freely about their future, even though the European Union already has diplomatic relations with them,” says Puigdemont.Spain, he said, “is above all the state that repressed Catalans for the October 1st referendum” of 2017.
For Puigdemont, “the people of Palestine have the right to self-determination just like the people of Catalonia,” and with its decision, the Spanish government sets a “double standard” that “weakens” European democracies “when they practice it abroad and do not practice it at home.”Currently, Puigdemont lives in exile in Belgium as he is sought by Spanish justice for organizing the independence referendum in 2017.
