ELA defends the right of the Catalan people to decide at the European Confederation of Trade Unions

Oct 30, 2017

At the meeting of the CES (European Confederation of Trade Unions) held today in Brussels, ELA’s General Secretary Adolfo Muñoz “Txiki” and its head of international affairs, Laura González de Txabarri defended Catalonia’s right to be subjected to a political decision procedure. ELA explained that the source of the Catalan-State conflict had not started on the 6th and 7th of September with the resolutions passed in the Catalan Parliament. In fact, the conflict had been started with the systematic contempt shown by the Spanish State, which had not respected the decisions democratically adopted by the Catalan people.

ELA has underlined the fact that 85% of Catalans wish to decide about their relationship with the State and that the State reacted using repression and the instrumented application of justice to stop people and to prevent democracy. ELA has compared the position held by the State with the democratic way in which a solution was found to the problem between Great Britain and Scotland: Scotland was able to vote, whilst in Catalonia the people were repressed to ensure that this did not occur.

ELA has passed on its opinion that the Catalan “problem” will not be resolved by using the Criminal Code or by applying emergency legislation.

ELA has placed value on the incredible social mobilisation developed in Catalonia and its relationship with sovereignty and with the lives of the workers.