Manfred Weber, the chairman of the European People’s Party (EPP), has made it clear he thinks the Spanish Government is failing in its European duties.
On December 12, during the regular morning press conference in Strasbourg, Weber did not mince his words on the left-wing Spanish regime.
“The Spanish Government has been obviously more busy with itself than with the presidency of the Council,” he said, referring to the fact that Spain is the current President of the Council of the European Union.
“We have seen more initiatives to make Catalan an official EU language than on finishing Mercosur, Ukraine’s EU membership, or a common Israel position.”
Weber was talking in regards to efforts by Spanish ambassadors who have worked to obtain support for the official recognition of Catalan, Basque and Galician as European Union languages while the EU is struggling with major problems on other fronts.
Mercosur, the trade deal with the South American bloc, seems to many to be stuck in limbo as illustrated in recent criticism by French President Emmanuel Macron.
Spain is sympathetic toward Gaza and disapproving of Israel, going against the general sentiment in Weber’s Germany, for instance.
The EPP chairman has been highly critical of the Spanish Government after Madrid made a controversial amnesty deal with Catalan separatists, one that for him at least raises questions about the rule of law in Spain.
