11-22-2019 | Cs
The MEP of Citizens (Cs), Jordi Cañas, urges the European Commission to 'give an immediate and forceful response to Russian interference in European democratic and electoral processes'
"The European Parliament must open a Commission of Inquiry into Russian interference that aims to destabilize member states to weaken the European Union," said the MEP. Cañas has made these statements after learning that the Spanish National Court has opened an investigation into the movements of Russian spies in Catalonia after the police found the presence of members of an elite military unit specialized in destabilization operations in Europe.
"It is not the first time that Russian destabilization activities have been identified in European countries," said Cañas. The MEP has indicated that in November 2017, the US Senate Intelligence Committee, in line with the investigation of the Russian plot in the US presidential elections, determined that Russia interfered in the French and German elections, and also in the process Catalan separatist. The European External Action Service, through the East Stratcom Task Force, detected Russian interference in relation to the Catalan crisis at the end of 2017.
"In the past month of May, the German secret services," he added, "were" worried "about Russian support for Catalan separatism after receiving very convincing information from other European information services." In its communication to the Community Executive registered this afternoon, Cañas recalled that "the European Parliament has warned on numerous occasions about Russian attempts to destabilize our democracies to weaken the European Union." In this regard, he has called for "extraordinary measures to combat Russian interference in the political and electoral processes of the Member States." Likewise, the MEP of Cs will propose the creation of a commission of inquiry on Russian interference in the internal politics and electoral processes of the member states.