Regarding the referendum on the independence of Catalonia and following the strategy of identifying everyone with one side or another, a recent interview with Yanis Varoufakis in a Spanish digital media outlet has caused the co-founder of DiEM25 to return to the public sphere and clarify out-of-context headlines.
“I am not taking sides on whether Catalonia should be independent or not” and “What we’re promoting in DiEM25 would solve the problem. We want a real European Union that becomes a single jurisdiction, a country if you want to call it that. In that scenario, it doesn’t matter if Catalonia is part of Spain!”
Either of these two phrases could have inspired the headline for the interview, but then the article would not have received the same media fuss. DiEM25 will always defend the two basic pillars of democracy: the principle of majority, expressed in elections and referendums; and the protection of civil liberties and individual rights.
Unlike Brexit, the referendum on the independence of Catalonia is not driven by xenophobic and anti-EU motives. It’s not the same thing. In this situation, we cannot oppose the idea of a referendum simply because the Constitution doesn’t allow it. In that case, we must work to change the constitution and make it not illegal, as stated in the 1945 UN Charter. Political problems must always be solved politically, by discussing and proposing solutions to all kinds of problems. Repression is never the solution.
At DiEM25 we’re working to create a European Union which is open, fair and shows solidarity, in which all kinds of ideas can be argued and defended.
Without getting carried away by the eye-catching headlines that the media use to attract attention and create controversy, we encourage all those interested in knowing Yanis Varoufakis’s position regarding the holding of the referendum in Catalonia and many other issues, to read the complete interview (in Spanish).
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