The Diplomat
The recent decision of the European Parliament to lift the parliamentary immunity of former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont starred yesterday in the press conference of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya, in Slovenia, a country that has maintained very critical attitudes towards the Spanish government’s stance in Catalonia and whose MEPs voted against the supplication.
González Laya traveled to Slovenia as part of a two-day tour of Slovenia and Austria. In Ljubljana, the minister met with her counterpart, Anze Logar, to whom she offered Spain’s “full support” for the upcoming Slovenian presidency of the EU, and was received by the President of the Republic, Borut Pahor; the Prime Minister, Janez Jansa; and the President of the National Assembly, Igor Zordic. This is the second bilateral meeting of Gonzalez Laya with Logar after his visit to Madrid last September. Besides, according to Foreign Affairs, the trip has taken place “at a particularly relevant moment for Slovenia, since it celebrates in June the 30th anniversary of its independence from Yugoslavia and on July 1 begins its rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union”.
The “sovereign decision of the European Parliament” has sent “a message of respect for the rule of law and justice in Spain”, because “Spain is a democratic country, with a full democracy and with a rule of law”, stated González Laya during the joint press conference with Logar, in response to questions from local journalists. “The rule of law is one of the fundamental principles of the EU, it is Article 1 of the EU Treaty”, and in the Union “there are very detailed mechanisms to examine how countries comply with their obligations under the Treaty”, she continued. “Spain underwent a review last year of the functioning of its rule of law and did so because we understand that this is going to help us improve”, as “I know Slovenia is also going to do”, she added.
The lifting of the immunity of Carles Puigdemont and former ministers Toni Comín and Clara Ponsatí was approved this past Tuesday with the support of almost 60% of the votes cast thanks to the favorable position of popular, socialists and liberals. However, parliamentary sources quoted by the newspaper La Vanguardia indicated that there was “a leak of votes” against the supplication (a total of 248 MEPs voted against, including the five from Unidas Podemos) by the representatives of four countries: Belgium, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Slovakia.
In December 2018, relations between Spain and Slovenia went through a near crisis after the head of state, Borut Pahor, received the president of the Generalitat, Quim Torra, who took advantage of the trip to defend the “Slovenian way” for the independence of Catalonia. In April 2019, the then Minister of Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, went to Ljubljana, where he got the then Prime Minister, the centrist Marjan Sarec, to publicly criticize the meeting with Torra and warned that “Spain is a sovereign and democratic state” and there is “no parallel” between Slovenia and Catalonia. Pahor himself specified, after meeting with the Catalan leader, that “the question of independence is a matter for the Catalan people and the Kingdom of Spain in which Slovenia does not wish to intervene”.
Arancha González Laya will continue her tour today in Vienna, where she will meet with her Austrian counterpart, Alexander Schallenberg. Likewise, and at the multilateral level, the Minister will meet with the Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Helga Schmid; and with the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi.
