“How can an EU member state go this far?” says Jan Jambon about Spain

Catalonia begins to divide Europe. Jan Jambon, Belgian Deputy Prime Minister, in charge of Home Affairs, asks: “How can an EU member state go this far?” Former Belgian Prime Minister Elio di Rupio also attacks the Madrid government.

Jan Jambon said on Sunday, in an interview with VTM, that the Madrid government “went a too far” and asked “what do Europe expects to have an opinion on this issue?”. After questioning the role of the European institutions in this case, the Belgian minister went further and argued that “if it had happened in Poland or Hungary, the reactions would have been different.”

Jambon’s statements came on the day that Catalan President Carles Puigdemont and four of his former advisors – Antoni Comín, Clara Ponsatí, Lluís Puig  and Meritxell Serret – who were the targets of a European arrest warrant, turned themselves over to the Belgian authorities.

The Belgian prosecutor’s office ordered a few hours before the arrest of the deprived president of Catalonia and his former regional advisers.

Di Rupio also says no to the order of prison

The Vice-President of the European People’s Party, Esteban Gonzalez Pons, criticized Jambon’s words, saying they are “irresponsible and dangerous” and jeopardize “the necessary cooperation between EU states.”

In Belgium, former Prime Minister Elio di Rupio also criticised the “authoritarian” behavior with which the Spanish government led by Mariano Rajoy responded to the Catalan independence movement.

“I fight Puigdemont’s policy, but I would be very shocked if the Belgian justice system puts him in jail,” said Di Rupio through a Twitter message.

Before giving himself voluntarily to the authorities, Carles Puigdemont wrote on Twitter that he agreed to cooperate with the Belgian courts.