The Spanish PSOE party (equivalent of Portugal’s PS) is presenting a formal complaint against the PS for having supported a motion denouncing ‘authoritarian drift’ and ‘repression’ in Catalunha.
The text was approved last night by Lisbon’s municipal assembly. It didn’t simply decry the way Catalunha’s call for independence has been treated, it called for the release of the 11 Catalan politicians condemned to jail terms for standing for it.
Within hours, the PSOE was reported to be ‘presenting a formal complaint’ proclaiming its “malaise at the profound ignorance of the Spanish reality” which is, “a democratic state where the Constitution and its laws are applied”.
Explains Jornal de Notícias, the motion in Lisbon was approved “at a time when the Spanish government is waging an intense campaign against foreign propaganda supporting the movement for Catalunha’s independence”,
The campaign is at pains to stress the jailed politicians aren’t paying for their ideologies but for having put a process in motion that violated Spain’s Constitution.
A Spanish source reportedly told JN last night that relations with the Portuguese PS government are “very good”, that is why the PSOE is so “surprised” by yesterday’s motion.
Said the source, it has to be put down to ‘ignorance of the situation in Catalunha’.
Lisbon’s ruling municipal council has since released a statement saying it has ‘total respect for the sovereignty of the Spanish State, its Constitution, laws and the functioning of its institutions”.
Only decisions made in meetings of city councillors are binding, the council stresses “and no decision has been made, or will be approved, with this (text’s) content”.
