The EU commission had released a statement on Monday, a day after
Catalonia's referendum poll, amid scenes of Spanish riot police beating people
attempting to vote in Barcelona and elsewhere in the region.
The commission statement noted that "violence can never be an instrument
in politics" without specifying who was behind it. Catalonia says 893 people had
been injured, some seriously.
When pressed by reporters, the EU commission's chief spokesperson
Margaritis Schinas refused to speculate, calling instead for
dialogue.
Catalonia is set for massive demonstrations on Tuesday to protest, among
other things, police violence.
Altafaj is himself an ex-senior European Commission
official.
Between 2012 to 2014, he was the deputy head of cabinet of Olli Rehn, at
the time vice-president and EU commissioner of economic and monetary affairs. He
was also an EU commission spokesperson and skilled at defending the commission's
views.
Schinas and Martin Selmayr, EU commission president Jean-Claude Juncker's
powerful German head of cabinet, were his close colleagues.
"We know each other, I think that at the personal level they are correct,
but they haven't so far met my expectation in terms of at least gathering
information in order to enrich their reporting to their political master," said
Altafaj.
He said that he knows "positively" that some EU commissioners do not feel
at ease with the statement read out by Schinas.
He noted his own efforts around noon on Sunday to get the EU commission
to issue a statement or a call of restraint against the use of force were also
rebuffed.
Altafaj then described Juncker's commission as weak, noting that the
European Union remains a private club with extra perks for the biggest member
states such as Spain.
"This commission is not a strong as it pretends to be," he
said.
He also said that the Commission, along with the Council, representing
member states, and European Parliament are all headed by centre-right EPP
loyalists.
Altafaj's comments follows statements released earlier in the day by
Catalan president Carles Puigdemont.
Puigdemont is asking for international mediation and is hoping the EU
steps in to fill the role. But the EU is unlikley to respond, given the broader
political sensitivities.
Parliament's reluctant debates
The European parliament in Strasbourg will debate Catalonia on
Wednesday.
But the centre-right EPP, the largest group in the EU Parliament and the
political family of Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy, accepted the debate
under the condition that it doesn't focus on police
violence.
The debate was asked by the leftist GUE/NGL and Greens groups, joined by
the liberal Alde, the Socialists & Democrats (S&D) and the
EPP.
"We can ask Europe not to turn a blind eye to the police violence that
we've seen [on Sunday]," said Ska Keller, co-chair of the Green
group.
The principle of the debate, which was rejected last week by the
parliament's two main groups, the S&D and the EPP, was adopted under the
pressure of Sunday's images and after negotiations between political
groups.
"There are fundamental principles which we feel should be respected," EPP
French MEP Francoise Grossetete said. "The rule of law must enforced and must be
respected."
The debate will therefore be held under a broad title, which was agreed
as a compromise between the EPP, the S&D and Alde: "Constitution, rule of
law and fundamental rights in Spain in the light of the events of
Catalonia."
"I'm a bit embarrassed with this Catalonia thing, because I cannot see
clearly what the positions are," an EPP source told EUobserver after the group
accepted the debate.
"We are happy," a GUE spokeswoman told EUobserver.
"But we would have liked that the title highlighted the state's
repression against the people which is an aspect the EU has remained largely
silent about."
