(Bloomberg) -- A top European Union official backed member states' use of force to uphold order, three days after an illegal independence referendum in Spain's Catalan region led to a police crackdown on voters, including several hundred injuries.
“It is a duty for any government to uphold the rule of law, and this sometimes requires the proportionate use of force,” European Commission First Vice President Frans Timmermans told the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France. “Respect for the rule of law is not optional; it's fundamental.”
The Catalan government claims to have counted more than 2 million votes for separation, in an illegal referendum that lacked certified voter lists and let people print ballots at home in a process not overseen by an official election board. Three days later, the Catalans still haven't presented a final result.
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“If the law does not give you what you want, you can oppose the law, you can work to change the law, but you cannot ignore the law,” Timmermans said. “So it is fundamental that the constitutions of every one of our member states are upheld and respected.”
In Wednesday's Strasbourg debate, Manfred Weber, leader of the biggest group at the European Parliament said that the referendum wasn't valid and warned Catalans that “who leaves Spain, leaves the European Union,” including the euro area and the single market.
To contact the reporters on this story: Richard Bravo in Brussels at rbravo5@bloomberg.net, Jones Hayden in Brussels at jhayden1@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alan Crawford at acrawford6@bloomberg.net, Nikos Chrysoloras
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