The European Parliament asks Brussels to study bullying at the university in Catalonia in its report on the Rule of Law

BRUSSELS, March 22. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Petitions Committee of the European Parliament has demanded this Wednesday that the European Commission study the harassment suffered by academic actors and student associations at the university in Catalonia for their political positions and that it be reflected in the report on the situation of the Rule of Law.

After a debate in the commission, the president of Petitions, Dolors Montserrat, has decided to process the complaint and will contact the European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, so that he "takes into account" this situation in the relative chapter to Spain in the report on the Rule of Law.

Likewise, the Eurochamber will request explanations from the Ministry of Education for what it considers a possible violation of freedom of expression and ideology, as well as the right of assembly.

This step stems from the complaint from the 'Universitaris per la Convivència' platform, which brings together more than 200 university professors from Catalonia, about the harassment of non-independence positions in the Catalan academic context, giving as an example the harassment of student groups such as S'ha Acabat!, whose expulsion from the register of associations was reversed by the courts.

Before the commission, the petitioner Isabel Fernández Alonso, has claimed to investigate the violation of fundamental rights in the context of the university, apart from ensuring the principle of institutional neutrality after denouncing the "obvious collusion" of the institutions in Catalonia with these practices .

On the side of the European Commission, a representative has considered that the complaint touches on issues of fundamental rights but has stressed that for Brussels to intervene there must be a link between the case and community law. In this sense, he recalled that teaching content and educational systems in the EU are autonomous and the responsibility of the Member States, which must guarantee respect for these rights.

Only MEPs from Spanish right-wing parties have participated in the debate, who have demanded a greater role for the European Executive in situations such as the one denounced. In this sense, the 'popular' parliamentarian Rosa Estaràs has emphasized the lack of neutrality of the Catalan universities, criticizing the fact that the authorities do not condemn the incidents and that the security forces do not even intervene in situations of harassment.

On the side of Ciudadanos, Maite Pagazaurtundua has described as "serious events" the boycott that she herself suffered at the Autonomous University, where she was going to participate in a conference on European issues. "They wanted to prevent us from giving the talk at all costs," she assured, warning of a "populist, identity and ultranationalist regime" in Catalonia that tries to generate a "spiral of violence and normalize harassment."

On the part of Vox, Hermann Tertsch has criticized that Brussels "dispatches the situation as if it is not its responsibility", criticizing an alleged double standard with respect to countries like Hungary, "where it does attribute powers to make massive interference." Thus, he has sent an alarm message about the "repression" suffered by "everyone who is not in the ultranationalist narrative." "This does not occur in any democratic country", he has settled it.