Summary of the day
Protests continued in Georgia ahead of a key vote on the controversial ‘foreign agents’ bill.
Riot police armed with water cannon and teargas have been accused of beating protesters who picketed outside Georgia’s parliament to try to stop a final vote.
The fresh scenes of violence came as hundreds of masked officers charged down demonstrators who had been attempting to block off access to the parliament.
A group of members of the European parliament has asked the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, Josep Borrell, “to start preparing targeted sanctions against those in Georgia who are steering the country away from its European future.”
Speaking at a press briefing, a spokesperson for the EU’s foreign policy chief said “we strongly condemn acts of intimidation, threats and physical assaults against the protesters, against civil society activists, against politicians and against journalists and media workers.”
The centrist Renew Europe group in the European parliament has called “on EU institutions to take steps to further condemn attempts by the ruling party to Putinise Georgia.”
Separatist parties were in danger of losing their decade-long hold of power in Spain’s northeastern Catalonia region, with the pro-union Socialist party winning the most votes in Sunday’s election.
Nevertheless, Carles Puigdemont said he intends to try to form a government composed of pro-independence parties.
Puigdemont said in a press conference that the time has come to “rebuild bridges” within the independence movement and that a repeat election “wouldn’t be best for the Catalan people”.
Police moved in to end a pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Amsterdam today after protesters occupied university buildings in various Dutch cities.
Many students joined Georgia’s protests.
For the first time in my academic career I am greeted by an empty room. Why? Because all the students are protesting against the Russian law in Georgia. ✌️ pic.twitter.com/alC3rfzmLs
— George Melashvili 🇺🇦🇬🇪 (@geomel_ge) May 13, 2024
The centrist Renew Europe group in the European parliament has called “on EU institutions to take steps to further condemn attempts by the ruling party to Putinise Georgia.”
The people of Georgia 🇬🇪 want a European 🇪🇺 future & we want that too!
— Renew Europe (@RenewEurope) May 13, 2024
We call on EU institutions to take steps to further condemn attempts by the ruling party to Putinise Georgia. #NotoRussianLaw pic.twitter.com/Zc0K2lTqvU
Police move to end pro-Palestinian protest at Amsterdam university
Police moved in to end a pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Amsterdam today after protesters occupied university buildings in various Dutch cities, Reuters reported.
Amsterdam police said the university had filed a police report against the protesters for acts of vandalism.
The city police also said they will ask protesters to leave the premises voluntarily.
De UvA heeft aangifte gedaan van vernieling door de demonstranten. Daarom is de politie nu aanwezig op het terrein om te zorgen dat niemand het pand meer in kan en de demonstranten wordt gevraagd het terrein te verlaten. Zij krijgen de kans dit vrijwillig en zelfstandig te doen.
— Politie Eenheid Amsterdam (@POL_Amsterdam) May 13, 2024
In a joint statement yesterday, over 100 Georgian civil society groups reiterated their opposition to the controversial ‘foreign agents’ bill.
“We, Georgian non-governmental organizations, once again declare that the draft law adopted by the authorities in the second reading is a Russian Law in its goals and content, it is directed against the Western course supported by the Georgian people, and it must be withdrawn unconditionally. No amount of amendment can reverse the devastating effects that this law will have on our society,” they said.
“The government must withdraw this law unconditionally,” the groups added.
“64 seconds is all it takes for a constitutional coup,” the opposition United National Movement said today.
Georgian Dream approved the Foreign Agents Act in its final committee round in 64 seconds.
— United National Movement - Parliamentary Faction (@UNMFaction) May 13, 2024
Without any opposition present.
64 seconds is all it takes for a constitutional coup.
Georgia has been rocked for weeks by demonstrations against a bill that would force non-governmental groups and media to register as “organisations serving the interest of a foreign power” if more than 20% of their funding comes from overseas.
Protesters say it will sabotage thecountry’s hopes of joining the EU and stifle civil society. It has been described as “the Russian law” by critics as it resembles repressive legislation used by the Kremlin.
Police have used teargas and water cannons to disperse the crowds, acting at times with “disproportionate force”, according to watchdogs.
A group of members of the European parliament has asked the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, Josep Borrell, “to start preparing targeted sanctions against those in Georgia who are steering the country away from its European future.”
🇬🇪🇪🇺 We ask HR/VP @JosepBorrellF to start preparing targeted sanctions against those in Georgia who are steering the country away from its European future.👇We will continue to support Georgia’s pro-European people. pic.twitter.com/9RKPDAF0ed
— Thijs Reuten 🇪🇺🌹 (@thijsreuten) May 13, 2024
Updated
Here are photos from Tbilisi this morning, by Alexander Bagrationi for the Guardian.
Thijs Reuten, a member of the European parliament from the Netherlands, said today that “we have to show that we learn our lessons and support the Georgian people now.”
We have to show that we learn our lessons and support the Georgian people now. Not next month, not next year.
— Thijs Reuten 🇪🇺🌹 (@thijsreuten) May 13, 2024
The brave people in the streets of 🇬🇪 will continue to resist Russian style sabotage of their democracy, constitution and EU integration. #NoToRussianLaw pic.twitter.com/WtQ7hEpLew
Here are more images from Georgia today.
US and Russian citizens detained in Georgia
Two American citizens and one Russian were among 20 people detained at protests in Tbilisi, the interior ministry said today, Reuters reported.
Georgia police accused of beating protesters against ‘foreign influence’ bill
Riot police armed with water cannon and teargas have been accused of beating protesters who picketed outside Georgia’s parliament to try to stop a final vote on a controversial “foreign influence” law.
The fresh scenes of violence on Monday morning came as hundreds of masked officers charged down demonstrators who had been attempting to block off access to the parliament in the capital, Tbilisi.
Dimitri Chikovani, who was severely beaten by five men near his apartment building entrance in Tbilisi’s Sololaki district last Wednesday evening, said he had also received threatening phone calls.
Speaking to the Guardian after his release from hospital, Chikovani, who suffered fractured cheek bones and a broken nose, said he believed the government was behind the attacks.
He said: “The point is to make people fear them. But if I may add, it’s pointless and useless. Because people of Georgia, they have spoken, they have decided that the European way, the western civilisation, is the way of Georgia. Georgian Dream won’t stop it. We will protest until Georgian Dream stands back and stops the law.”
EU condemns 'intimidation, threats and physical assaults' in Georgia
Speaking at a press briefing, a spokesperson for the EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell reiterated concern about the situation in Georgia, where pro-western protesters have continued to face a violent crackdown.
“We strongly condemn acts of intimidation, threats and physical assaults against the protesters, against civil society activists, against politicians and against journalists and media workers,” the spokesperson said, pointing to “brutal actions” overnight.
“We call on the authorities to ensure the right to protest,” he said. “We call on the authorities to investigate properly… and we expect that those responsible for it will be brought to justice.”
The European Union and the member states are watching the situation “closely,” he said.
But he also said that “we are not there yet” on sanctions.
“Georgia, after all, is a candidate country – and we again, we hope, we expect and we call on authorities to go back to the European path.”
Puigdemont’s press conference has ended.
Here’s a bit more detail here on why Puigdemont says a repeat election wouldn’t be in the region’s interest and why he’s keen to try to form a government.
It is worth bearing in mind that by the time a repeat election is held, he may be back in Spain and free to campaign thanks to the amnesty.
But a repeat election is not guarantee of shoring up support for the independence movement, which had a very bad night last night.
“The main thing is to ensure Catalonia has a government that can work and that can stand up to Madrid,” Puigdemont said.
He added:
The second thing it to avoid a repeat election. A repeat elections would help us overcome many of the difficulties we’ve had to deal with; we’ve been the only ones who haven’t been able to take part in the debates or head out to the streets. But despite all that, [a repeat election] would be very bad news for Catalonia, for stability and for the people of Catalonia.
“We are not going to let you down,” the far-right Vox leader, Santiago Abascal, told the party’s supporters.
Vox won 11 seats in Catalonia.
¡Bravo @Igarrigavaz !
— Santiago Abascal 🇪🇸 (@Santi_ABASCAL) May 13, 2024
Contra los pronósticos, VOX ha crecido un 13% y ha obtenido 30.000 votos más en Cataluña.
Un cuarto de millón de catalanes han votado #EnDefensaPropia
¡No les vamos a defraudar!#Barcelona #Cataluña pic.twitter.com/qClH6A1dmk
Meanwhile, the Socialists are celebrating.
🌹 Hem guanyat les eleccions al Parlament!
— Socialistes PSC/❤ (@socialistes_cat) May 13, 2024
🌹 Tornem a ser el primer partit de Catalunya!
🌹 Moltes gràcies a tots els catalans i les catalanes que ens heu fet confiança!#ForçaPerGovernar #IllaPresident pic.twitter.com/DhYO6MC2Px
Puigdemont, speaking at a press conference just now, has said he’s not engaging in theatrics and is serious about returning to the presidency.
Puigdemont has said the time has come to “rebuild bridges” within the independence movement, an apparent nod to the bad blood between Junts and the ERC.
He’s also said that a repeat election - which remains a distinct possibility if no one can put together a new regional government - “wouldn’t be best for the Catalan people”.
🎥 President @KRLS Puigdemont: “Hem de dotar Catalunya d’un govern que faci funcionar el país i que tingui condicions de continuar plantant cara a Madrid. I també hem d’aconseguir estalviar la repetició electoral. A nosaltres ens ajudaria a superar moltes dificultats, però seria… pic.twitter.com/NbElS1qP1b
— Junts per Catalunya🎗 (@JuntsXCat) May 13, 2024
Updated
Earlier today, Junts’ David Torrents acknowledged that the pro-independence camp has lost some ground and “we need to reflect a lot” about the election’s outcome.
Primer de tot vull agrair als 10.490 Badalonins i als 674.896 Catalans que ens heu fet confiança!! Gràcies!!
— David Torrents (@torrents_d) May 13, 2024
Malgrat que @JuntsXCat hem millorat, l’independentisme ha perdut representació, i cal reflexionar molt, molt!! Seguiré lluitant i hem de seguir lluitant!! Visca Catalunya…
Puigdemont pushes for government of pro-independence parties
Carles Puigdemont said he intends to try to form a government composed of pro-independence parties.
“We can put together a coherent majority - not an absolute one - but it would be bigger than Illa’s. The socialist candidate’s options must necessarily involve the PP.”
Updated
Carles Puigdemont is speaking now.
Spanish government sources said this morning that “Salvador Illa’s triumph means the end of the independence process - thanks to the policy of harmony, dialogue and coexistence undertaken by the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez.”
“Catalans have backed that with their votes. In this election, Catalonia has decided to open a new stage,” they added.
Amid all the noise over the Socialist (PSC) victory and the mooted end of “el procés”, it’s worth looking at the performance of the Citizens party, which was once the great hope of the centre-right.
Although it finished first in the snap election that followed the independence crisis in December 2017, Citizens lost all its six seats last night and the party is now on the verge of extinction.
Things started to go downhill in May 2018, when the party’s then-leader, Albert Rivera, made the fateful decision not to back Pedro Sánchez’s no-confidence vote in the corruption-mired PP government of Mariano Rajoy.
Since then, disheartened Citizens voters have flocked back to rival parties and the level of support was so low that the party did not stand in last July’s general election.
Updated
The Republican Left’s Pere Aragonès, who has led Catalonia’s regional government for the past three years, has acknowledged last night’s “bad results” but said the project will continue.
Vull agrair a tota la gent que avui ens ha fet confiança. Hem obtingut uns mals resultats, però el projecte d'Esquerra Republicana continuarà perquè estem orgullosos del que som, dels 93 anys d'història i del que hem fet des del govern republicà, independentista i d'esquerres. pic.twitter.com/P7lpcYD629
— Pere Aragonès i Garcia 🎗 (@perearagones) May 12, 2024
There will be huge relief in the People’s party (PP) camp that it managed to take 15 seats to Vox’s 11 - being pipped to fourth place by the far-right outfit would have been a major humiliation for the conservatives.
Vox’s seat count remained the same despite the controversial amnesty against which it has raged so loudly.
Eyes on Puigdemont
All eyes are now on Carles Puigdemont, who’s expected to hold a press conference at 11am.
From his comments last night, it looks as thought he’s determined to try to govern. He’s said a tripartite government - Socialist party of Catalonia (PSC), Catalan Republican Left party (ERC) and Comuns - would be “a bad option for Catalonia”, and has urged the ERC to team up with his Junts party to form a “solid government of purely Catalan obedience”.
A few problems there. There’s little love between the ERC and Junts, and both parties - even with the help of the far-left Popular Unity Candidacy - would only be able to muster 59 seats in the 135-seat regional parliament. Sixty-eight seats are needed for an absolute majority.
Updated
Pedro Sánchez, Spain’s socialist prime minister, congratulated Salvador Illa last night for a “historic” result in the Catalan election.
“From today, a new phase begins in Catalonia to improve the lives of citizens, expand rights and strengthen coexistence,” he said.
Enhorabuena, @salvadorilla, por este histórico resultado conseguido en Catalunya.
— Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) May 12, 2024
Los socialistas volvemos a ser la primera fuerza.
Desde hoy se abre una nueva etapa en Catalunya para mejorar la vida de la ciudadanía, ampliar derechos y reforzar la convivencia.
Quiero…
After yesterday’s election in Catalonia, the conservative People’s party (PP)‘s Alberto Núñez Feijóo said the group’s results “exceeded our best expectations.”
The PP won 15 seats.
Felicidades al @PPCatalunya y a @alejandroTGN por un resultado extraordinario, que ha superado nuestras mejores expectativas.
— Alberto Núñez Feijóo (@NunezFeijoo) May 12, 2024
Gracias a los más de 340.000 catalanes que nos consolidan con claridad como alternativa constitucionalista.
El PP de Cataluña ha vuelto para quedarse.
Updated
What are Illa’s plans?
The Socialists, led by former health minister Salvador Illa, won the most seats in Sunday’s election in Catalonia.
“This election could – and should – open a new era in Catalonia that I’d define in two words: the verbs ‘unite’ and ‘serve’,” Illa told the Guardian in an interview ahead of the vote.
“‘Unite’ because we need to stop focusing, as we have over the past few years, on issues that divide Catalan society and which try to put it on either side of a line. We need to underline and emphasise the common bonds – regardless of our ideas, our language, our background or our feelings – that we have as Catalans.
“And ‘serve’ because we need to underline that public services, such as education, healthcare, housing, transport and safety, will be the chief priority of the regional government.”
He accused the moderate pro-independence Catalan Republican Left party (ERC) and Junts per Catalunya, the centre-right, hardline pro-independence party, of being too preoccupied with independence to improve Catalonia’s declining public services or to prepare for the drought the region has suffered for the past three years.
“When you talk to people about what matters to them, they talk about the drought, about education – which was always excellent in Catalonia, but which is now lagging behind the rest of Spain – about infrastructure, about safety, about healthcare,” he said.
“It’s about public services that have been neglected and which have got worse over the past 10 years under Junts and [ERC] governments. It’s been a lost decade.”
Members of Spain’s socialist party celebrated the outcome of the regional election in Catalonia, arguing that the results show “the policies of dialogue” of Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, have been successful and are leading to a “new phase”.
Hoy es un gran día para Catalunya y para España por el magnífico resultado de @salvadorilla y @socialistes_cat
— Javier Izquierdo/❤️ (@javizqui) May 12, 2024
Se abre una nueva etapa para la convivencia, la prosperidad y el futuro.
Las políticas de diálogo de @sanchezcastejon han dado resultado. pic.twitter.com/eIGy7EyOyR
Enhorabuena a @salvadorilla por su gran victoria en Cataluña, pero también a @sanchezcastejon cuya política por la convivencia en Cataluña ha conseguido que hoy empiece una nueva etapa 🌹🌹🌹 pic.twitter.com/m6JghjQguo
— M Luz Martínez Seijo (@luzseijo) May 12, 2024
Separatist parties set to lose power in Catalan regional election
Separatist parties are in danger of losing their decade-long hold of power in Spain’s northeastern Catalonia region, with the pro-union Socialist party poised to win the most votes in Sunday’s election, according to a near-complete count of the ballots.
The four pro-independence parties, led by the Together party of former regional president Carles Puigdemont, were set to get a total of 61 seats, short of the key figure of 68 seats needed for a majority in the chamber.
The Socialists, led by former health minister Salvador Illa, were on course to win 42 seats, up from 33 in 2021, when they also barely won the most votes but were unable to form a government.
The Socialists will still need to earn the backing of other parties to put Illa in charge. Dealmaking in the coming days, perhaps weeks, will be key to forming a government. Neither a hung parliament nor a new election is out of the question.
But Illa’s surge should bode well for the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, and the Socialists before European parliament elections next month.
Read the full story here.
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Good morning and welcome back to the Europe blog.
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