It alleged that most of the 65 spied and Government-owned calls were made by actors outside the Spanish government.

MADRID, 26 May. (EUROPEAN PRESS) –

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, today argued that the Government “does not know and does not decide on the operational decisions of the CNI” to make it clear that it is not aware of the espionage carried out by the center of independence leaders. .

In this context, he also points out the “reasonable doubts” of the methodology of The Citizen Lab’s report pointing to the espionage of 65 independentistas, limiting it to just 18 and pointing out that most of the interventions “have been carried out by completely unknown actors outside the Spanish government, just like the phones of Government members are also infected”. He also once again defended his commitment to dialogue in Catalonia and offered to the Generalitat its continuation at the Dialogue Table.

During his appearance today at the plenary session of Congress to account for wiretapping by the National Intelligence Center after the ‘Pegasus case’ broke out, he confirmed, despite the fact that the secret services did so after the crisis they caused, between 2015 and 2020, the process, proclamation of independence and sabotage as a result Supreme Court’s decision against the independence leader. “The crisis is of great concern to national security, which is why the service proposed intervention and the judge accepted it,” the chief executive said.

But he also wanted to make it clear that “the government does not know and does not decide on CNI’s operational decisions.” Adding that this could happen with other governments, but “never”, he stressed, with his own. “I guarantee it won’t happen”, Pedro Sánchez added, confirming this statement because it is the essence of democracy as well as the limitation of Executive powers and “subject to the strictest legality”.

In this regard, Sánchez argues that information affecting national security is under the control of the courts, through which Supreme Court judges must authorize certain actions; parliament, with official secret commissions as well as other bodies such as the Ombudsman. As the Chief Executive emphasized, the latter acknowledged that the Government had sent all the requested documents even though they could have been rejected.

COMMITMENT TO DIALOGUE IN CATALONIA

Instead, he points out that the “hard and traumatic” times experienced by Catalans and Spanish people “are a thing of the past”. However, he insisted he was not saying that the conflict in Catalonia was over – “nothing could be further from reality,” he exclaimed – because there is still a long way to go. But he believes his government has returned the matter “to territory it should never have left.”

At this point, he appreciates his commitment to the dialogue he committed in his inaugural address and to the open negotiating table with Catalonia and has shown that, thanks to the course this Government has taken, there are a large number of Catalans who see with good eyes the way of meeting, negotiating and agreement. “I will continue to dedicate all my energy to that cause,” he assured.

However, he regrets that these “events” have undermined political confidence and the impetus for dialogue which he says “gives good results”, as he puts it. “I want to acknowledge the courage and courage of those of us who are committed to dialogue – and I speak in the plural – for reunion” against those who wish to undermine this rapprochement and return to the 2017 situation.

In this regard, he points out that in 2018, 55% of Catalans stated that coexistence was broken as a result of the sovereign process and more than half stopped talking to family members or friends because of politics. Instead, he points out that recent data show that Catalonia is currently the “least partisan polarized” community and therefore the situation has improved. “We will not retrace that path,” he stressed.

REASONABLE DOUBTS ABOUT CITIZEN LAB METHODOLOGY

Regarding the report published by The Citizen Lab platform, which denounced the espionage of 65 independent Catalans, he expressed “reasonable doubts” about the methodology and pointed out that the report itself acknowledged the impossibility of conclusively linking the hacking operation to a specific purpose. unity.

In this context, it has been clarified that the Ombudsman’s own report has indicated that CNI’s telephone intervention was limited to 18 leaders instead of the 65 stated in the Canadian entity report, and all under strict legality with court authorization.

Therefore, he points out that in the face of speculation, his conclusion is that most of the infected phones included in The Citizen Lab’s report “have been carried out by unknown actors who are completely unrelated to the Spanish government, as are the phone numbers of members of the government”. “That and no other reality,” he added.

As such, he has committed to what he describes as the “fundamental principles of constitutional democracy” and that any person whose communications have been intercepted, without the necessary court permission, “has been a victim of a crime and has the right and all the solidarity of the Government of Spain to find the truth and restore their basic rights”.

OTHER EUROPEAN LEADERS DIE

On the other hand, Sánchez has stressed that the Spanish Government is not the only one spying on ‘Pegasus’ and has mentioned the cases of other European leaders such as the former chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, whose phones were tapped and given rise to the investigation of the German prosecutor’s office, who , however, was closed due to lack of evidence.

He also referred to espionage attempts against French President Emmanuel Macron and the country’s Prime Minister Eduard Phillipe, as well as 14 of his cabinet ministers and an attempted attack on British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. However, Sánchez cites these cases as based on journalistic information because no other European political leader has acknowledged being a victim.

In this regard, Sánchez has maintained his position on publicizing espionage to the Government for the sake of transparency and has complained that the same people who are criticizing him now for focusing on State vulnerabilities, would also do so if he acted otherwise and they would criticize him for withholding information.