The Diplomat in Spain

Luis Ayllón. 04/07/2018

Around twenty retired ambassadors have sent a letter to the president of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, expressing their discontent with what they consider to be “an act of censorship of the freedom of expression” after the prohibition in the premises of the European Parliament of an exhibition of photographs about Catalonia and a play by Albert Boadella.

The letter, which was accessed by The Diplomat, expounds to Tajani the “surprise and discontent” of the Spanish diplomats caused by the decision made by Catherine Bearder, member of the Board Quaestors of the European Parliament, of not authorizing the Exhibition on “European Constitutionalism: 40 years of Europeanism in Catalonia”, organized by the Spanish member of the European Parliament Teresa Giménez Barbat.

The ambassadors point out that the photographs included in the exhibition “reflect some of the most important milestones in the recent history of Catalonia, with texts by outstanding Catalan journalists, writers, intellectuals and politicians such as Ignacio Vidal-Folch, Arcadi Espada, Victoria Camps, Teresa Freixes, Juan Carlos Girauta or Alejo Vidal-Quadras”.

The letter emphasizes that the reasons adduced to reject the authorization have been that “there is a risk of the exhibition provoking an adverse reaction and leading to interference in the activity of the European Parliament”. “However -they add-, as the organizer Giménez Barbat has pointed out, there is nothing in it that can offend the members of parliament. Quite the opposite, since it would allow making them party to a segment of the Catalan reality unknown beyond our borders”.

In the same way, the ambassadors indicate that “the Board of Quaestors has prohibited the representation of the play ‘El sermón del bufón’ (The sermon of the jester), by the renowned playwright, stage director and human rights activist, Albert Boadella -who has had to leave Catalonia stigmatized by the Catalan independence movement-, under pretext of being a controversial figure”.

After describing as “incredible and completely unacceptable” the fact that the European Parliament, which everyone considers to be the “melting pot of freedoms in Europe”, carries out “such an act of censorship of the freedom of expression” and commits “an unjustified offense against a member State of the European Union”, they beg Tajani to adopt the appropriate measures so that the photographs can be exhibited and the play by Boadella can be performed at the headquarters of the European Parliament.

The letter, with José Antonio de Yturriaga at the top, is also signed by: Inocencio Arias, Pablo Barrios, Ignacio Camuñas, Melitón Cardona, Nabor García, José García-Bañón, Juan González-Cebrián, Rafael Jover, Pedro López–Aguirrebengoa, Erik Ignacio Martel, Juan Antonio Martínez-Villarreal, Jorge Montealegre, Herminio Morales, Fernando Riquelme, José Luis Roselló, Carlos Sánchez de Boado, José Luis Tapia, Servando de la Torre and Francisco Javier Viqueira.