“They meant to prevent a pro-independence mayor in Barcelona,” said Ernest Maragall

After it was made known that the Spanish National Intelligence Centre CNI had spied on the talks for the formation of the Council of Barcelona, the leader of the Esquerra Republicana municipal group Ernest Maragall denounced on Monday that the Spanish state “intervened” in the democratic process of the last municipal elections in the capital of Catalonia, and pointed out that “there is one that is directly answerable, the Spanish government, that has the instrument, uses it, and flaunts it shamelessly,” along with certain direct beneficiaries: the Socialist leader at the Council, Jaume Collboni, and Comuns”—the Catalan compeers of Spanish government coalition partners, Podemos. He recalled that “Today, the Socialists and Comuns govern thanks to that state operation with the participation of Manuel Valls,”—the former French prime minister.

Mr Maragall said that the espionage had taken place “explicitly with a political goal: to eavesdrop, watch over and intervene in conversations between political organizations after an election.” “If we add to this the evidence of intrusion on my personal mobile phone a month earlier, just before the election, we have a terrible picture, a democratic catastrophe,” he added. “They meant to prevent a pro-independence mayor in Barcelona, with the obvious prominence of the PSC”—the Catalan branch of the governing Spanish Socialists—“in this whole operation,” he said.

All this, he warned, with a judge’s warrant to commit political espionage. “What judge can justify a citizen’s phone being tapped without any cause for criminal suspicion, with the sole intention of gaining political advantage” he asked. Mr Maragall lamented that the victims “are the citizens and democracy,” and considered it “urgent” that the facts be clarified, the documents be declassified and assurance given that this espionage will not happen again.