[ANGLÈS] Les pressions espanyoles darrera la marxa enrera de Reding

SPANISH PRESSURES BEHIND VIVIANE REDING BACK DOWN:

"In a recent interview, Viviane Reding, the Luxembourgeois vice-president of the European Commission - who was on a visit to the Andalusian parliament - was asked whether international law meant that Catalonia would have to leave the EU in the event of the region achieving independence.

According to the journalist, Federico Durán Basallote, Ms Reding responded to his question by dismissing the suggestion, saying international law said no such thing.

Following the publication of Ms Reding's interview, the European Commission, through the office of its representative in Spain, Federico Fonseca Morillo, embarked on a media campaign to re-write Ms Reding's interview to expunge her comments on how international law might apply to Scottish or Catalan independence.

According to the journalist who carried out the original interview, the Madrid Government was furious at Ms Reding's remarks, which undermined the contention of the Spanish government that an independent Catalonia would be expelled from the EU and have to re-apply for membership.

The Spanish government then exerted pressure on the office of José Manuel Durão Barroso, the President of the European Commission, to force them to withdraw Ms Reding's comments about international law.

In a letter sent to the Diario de Sevilla on October 1, following publication of the interview, Mr Fonseca said it was "important to mention Vice-President Reding's exact words", and then gave a section of the interview, entirely omitting the key sentence in Ms Reding's reply to the question about international law.

However, when Newsnet Scotland contacted the journalist who conducted the interview and asked him to comment on the Commission’s denial, he said “That’s a lie”.

Federico Durán Basallote commented: “In my opinion, the European Comission has tried to change the words of Mrs Reding.”

He added: “The problem was that Madrid got really angry with Reding and pressed Durao Barroso [EC President] for a rectification on behalf of the European Commission.”

In support of his claim, the Spanish journalist has provided a full audio recording of his interview with Viviane Reding. Newsnet Scotland can reveal that, contrary to official EC denials, the EC Vice President did indeed dismiss suggestions that international law would mean the automatic expulsion from the EU of a newly independent Catalonia."

(...) In the audio recording, Mr Basallote is clearly heard putting to the EC Vice President the suggestion that a newly independent Catalonia would not continue as an EU member, to which Viviane Reding replies:

“Come on, Come on - it doesn't say anything like this. Please solve the internal political problems of Spain in Spain. I trust the European mindset of the Catalonian people.” [newsnetscotland]