Sinn Féin MEP Matt Carthy has fiercely criticised the EU’s silence on Spanish repression in Catalonia, calling EU leaders a “shower of utter hypocrites”.
Speaking during a key debate in the European Parliament this week regarding the preparation of the next Council meeting, Carthy said:
“I see the Council intends to discuss the EU’s external relations at its next meeting.
“You guys have some nerve.
“You plan to lecture others on human rights while you sit on your hands when witnessing a vicious assault on peaceful EU citizens in Catalonia because they have the audacity to vote.
“The truth is that European leaders have disgracefully ignored thuggish human rights abuses that are happening within the EU.
“While EU inaction on Catalonia continues, you have lost the right to lecture others.
“Let’s be clear. Nobody – not an unelected Spanish King, not an unelected European Commission, not even a minority government in Madrid – has the right to declare illegal the democratic exercise of self-determination by a people.
“We are told that the EU stands for peace, democracy and human rights.
“Where were these values on Sunday?
“If you dare to use the council meeting to talk peace or democracy without standing clearly for these values in Catalonia then the people of Europe, the people of the world will rightly consider you to be nothing more than a shower of utter hypocrites.”
