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29 de juny 2021

AE

TO ALL MEMBERS OF ACADEMIA EUROPAEA

Our distinguished colleague the international Economics scholar Professor Andreu Mas-Colell, is facing legal action by the Spanish authorities for events during his time serving the community in Catalonia as a Minister of Economy. (Andreu Mas-Colell is a former winner of the AE Erasmus Medal, a former AE Trustee, a former Secretary General of the European Research Council and he was a driving force behind the world class ICREA and establishment of the University Pompeu Fabra).


From Prof. Jose Domingues Abrascal (sent 26 June 2021)

Dear Executive Secretary, dear Professor Coates,

I want to express my stronger opposition and condemnation to the use of the Academia Europaea for the purpose of questioning the rule of law in a democratic country which is member of the EU. It is hard to believe for me that you ask us to sing something without sending complete information about the activities for which Prof Mas-Colell is under investigation and what is the court that is investigating him. For your information it is the “Tribunal de Cuentas” (Public Accounts Court) of Spain.

I am not only surprised but strongly opposed to an action of support of someone under investigation by a court of a democratic country.

1. If you see the Democracy Index published by the Economist Intelligence Unit of the Economist Group (publisher of the weekly newspaper The Economist), Spain is one of the not so many Full Democracies in the world. In the said index Spain is in a higher position than France, Japan, United States or Israel.

2. There is a political wish of part of the population of a region of Spain ( 45% of the population aprox. according to several sources) that would like to be independent.

3. Due to the representation system of the Catalonian parliament (rural areas have more representers than urban areas) political parties for independence control the regional parliament.

4. Spanish constitution does not allow for referendums of independence of different regions. When the Spanish constitution was written in 1978, the German Constitution was taken as a reference for this part of the text. The German constitution that does not allow for such a referendum. Many other democratic countries like the United States have similar treatment of regional referendums a do not allow for such kind of referendum.

5. The United Nations do not recognize self-determination right to regions of democratic countries as Catalonia.

6. The “Tribunal de Cuentas” is in charge a auditing the accounts of the different public administrations and administrators.

7. What the “Tribunal de Cuentas” is analyzing is how much public money was spent in the organization of an illegal referendum that was specifically forbidden by the Constitutional Court of Spain. The referendum and other illegal activities forbidden by the Spanish Constitutional Court was organized in 2017 with the support of the regional government in which Prof. Mas-Colell was responsible for its economic department.

8. Obviously, Prof Mas-Colell is an eminent scientist but the auditing of the accounts of which he was responsible in the government of Catalonia should be out of any doubt. That is the reason why he is under investigation.

9. Catalonia is one of the richest regions of Spain and among the rich regions of the EU. It is well known in economy that unity of market should go together with fiscal solidarity. The basic reason for independence is that since the EU now guaranties the unit of market, any rich region would be better off by not shearing their taxes with other no so rich. The same could be said for municipalities or even neighborhoods.

10. Catalonia is not under any kind of prosecution by the rest of Spain. The political autonomy of Catalonia within Spain is larger than that of any other European region.

I would like to beg you to stop using the Academia Europaea for questioning a democratic country and stop asking its members to sign letters without sending a complete, clear and non- biased information. Any other thing is simply a political activity that should be absolutely outside of the activities of the Academia Europaea.

Yours

Prof. José Dominguez

27 de juny 2021

URGENT: Please sign this petition, to send to Spain's Court of Auditors in protest against repression of 41 Catalans. (27 JUN 2021)

Here is a hasty English translation of this petition to protest against a repressive measure that is unimaginable process in any modern democracy. Please sign the petition!

Click here if need be to access the whole text.

23 de juny 2021

Spanish pardons will do little to contribute to solving Spain's conflict with Catalonia (23 JUN 2021)

A comment on Nicholas Casey's article about the "pardons" in NYT.

Click here if need be to access the whole text.

Jordi Barbeta writes about the "Operation Soraya" as explained by Albert Rivera (20 JUN 2021)

An article by Jordi Barbeta on the moves by the PP to control the power to ruin leading Catalans, including Prof. Andreu Mas-Colell. Translation: MS
Click here if need be to access the whole text.

A strong article by Jordi Amat on Prof. Andreu Mas-Colell (17 JUN 2021)

A strong article by Jordi Amat on the attempts by Spain to ruin distinguished Prof. Andreu Mas-Colell 
Click here if need be to access the whole text.

Petition: "In Support of Professor Andreu Mas-Colell"

"In Support of Professor Andreu Mas-Colell". This petition has also been published in El País, in a Spanish translation. (16 JUN 2021)

Click here if need be to access the whole text.

22 de juny 2021

Should politicians be prosecuted for statements made in the exercise of their mandate? Documents. (PACE, 21 JUN 2021)

'Should politicians be prosecuted for statements made in the exercise of their mandate?', Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Report, rapporteur Boriss Cilevičs (LT). Documents.

Click here , if need be, to access the whole text.

20 de juny 2021

Vicent Partal: editorial on the Prof. Andreu Mas-Colell case (16 JUN 2021)

An editorial by Vicent Partal (VilaWeb) on the shocking case of Prof. Andreu Mas-Colell and his colleagues, all of whose assets Spain wants to confiscate.

Click here if need be to access the whole text.

19 de juny 2021

Thread by prestigious journalist Miguel Ángel Campos on Spanish police and media lawfare against Catalans (17 JUN 2021)

 This thread, by Miguel Angel Campos speaks for itself. Lawfare against Catalans involved in the independence movement are being lynched by the Spanish police and by most of the Spanish media, who disseminate these police reports that are pure fantasy.

Click here if need be to access the whole text.

16 de juny 2021

What strings have Spanish officials pulled to try and influence judgments of European courts? The author, Xavier X. Domènech, has authorized this translation (15 JUN 2021)

What if European courts rule that Spanish courts have reached judgments that violate international treaties and universal human rights? What strings have Spanish officials pulled to try and influence these judgments? Xavier F. Domènech has authorized this translation (by M. Strubell) of his thread on the subject.
Click here if need be to access the whole text.

4 de juny 2021

Council of Europe report on prosecution of Catalan politicians (4 JUN 2021)

Report by Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights: "Should politicians be prosecuted for statements made in the exercise of their mandate?" On Turkey and Spain.

Click here to read the whole post, if need be.