We are citizens from Barcelona, still in shock after the extreme violence by Spanish police towards a peaceful group of people wanting to vote (Report, 3 October). The citizens of Catalonia have always respected, and even admired, the democracy and fairness of the European Union. However, in recent times, the reaction of the EU to important issues that impact on our lives has been miserable. We are convinced that the words of the European commission, declining to intervene in what it has described as an internal Spanish matter, are a mistake. The Spanish government has used violence towards its citizens and this is clearly regulated in article 7 of the EU. Sooner rather than later Catalonia will gain statehood. By then we, the Catalan society, will need to decide whether belonging to the EU as it is now is worthwhile. We sadly have to admit it may not be any more.
Tony Bayes-Genis Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology
Josep Lupón
Barcelona
• My estimation of the EU has sunk further after its failure to condemn the police violence during Sunday’s referendum. Yes, it was technically illegal – but morally justified after the intransigence of the Madrid government and its refusal to engage in discussion. Catalonia has achieved a degree of independence in its decades-long struggle, but Madrid has now adopted a “thus far and no further” stance, leaving the Catalans frustrated and disappointed. They were, in effect, forced into a referendum. I like to think that should such a scenario ever arise in Scotland, a sensible process of discussion and democratic action would ensue. Not in Spain, however, where Mariano Rajoy reverted to what the Catalans will remember as dictatorial, anti-democratic and brutal retaliation – and no one from the EU had the guts to condemn it. As a committed European and remainer, I am increasingly losing my faith in the European commission.
Graham Lane
Laroque des Alberes, France
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