Reding asks Spain to negotiate without ‘preconceived notions’

Viviane Reding, the Vice President of the European Commission, participated this Sunday in a debate in the auditorium of Gaudí’s La Pedrera, in Barcelona. The debate was broadcast live via the internet and there were several hundred people participated from the auditorium itself. After a brief introduction, Reding opened the floor to debate and fielded questions from the audience, the majority of which asked for explanations about why the attitude of the European Commission was against the Catalan referendum and independence.

Reding offered one general answer to the Catalan independence question and then deflected most of the follow up questions, insisting that she couldn’t say anything more. But in her longest answer, she said, with reference to the Spanish and Catalan governments, “Do everything you can to solve this problem, without preconceived thoughts. And when I refer to preconceived notions, I mean by both parties”. It’s the first time that the European Commission has asked the Spanish government to not put barriers, like the Constitution, before a possible negotiation with the Catalan government.

Reding, at any rate, insisted that if independence were proclaimed that Catalonia would be out of the European Union, although she reiterated that she hoped Catalonia would remain within the EU and not outside. She also said that “If there’s a part that breaks away, it’s no longer a member of the EU. But as a state, it can ask to become a member of EU.”

At the end of the debate, the attendees voted whether they thought the European Union was listening to the voice of its citizens, and 53% said no, which surprised the Commission Vice President, and caused her to compare Catalans with Luxembourgers, who she said had ‘square heads’.