Fernández Díaz, irresponsible

There is an adjective that defines Spain’s Home Secretary Jorge Fernández Díaz with absolute clarity: irresponsible. One must be extremely vigilant when it comes to Islamic terrorism. You cannot play good cop/bad cop; you cannot drag the requisite cooperation between police forces down to the political battlefield; you cannot plant the seed of doubt among the public when the efficacy of the police is at stake; you cannot make security subservient to your political agenda; again, such blatantly partisan policies are simply unacceptable.

Once more, this is exactly what minister Fernández Díaz has done following the extremely serious accusations against the Spanish police who warned a group of alleged Islamic terrorists that they were being watched by the Mossos d’Esquadra, Catalonia’s own police force (1). This is truly a genuine, unjustifiable act of dirty war, a boycott that jeopardised a police operation --that was nevertheless successful-- as well as the life of a Catalan police officer working undercover within the terrorist cell.

Now, faced with a shambles, instead of ordering an immediate investigation and cooperating with the law, rather than showing signs of self-criticism or a willingness to cooperate loyally, the Home Secretary’s animosity towards the Catalan government has prevailed, with words that are unbecoming of a politician who holds public office.

Catalonia’s Mossos d’Esquadra have proven themselves to be committed and efficacious in fighting Islamic terrorism. Throwing a spanner in their works is unforgivable; putting all that into question is maliciously frivolous, more so since the Catalan police’s operation was actually aided by the Centro Nacional de Inteligencia (CNI, Spain’s intelligence service), reporting to the Ministry of the Presidency. In the light of this, the conduct of the Spanish police and Mr Fernández Díaz is even more embarrassing. For the sake of Catalan, Spanish and European security, for the sake of the international fight against Islamic terror, Mr Fernández Díaz must make amends at once and without reservations. Secretary Fernández Díaz has been acting irresponsibly for far too long.

__________

(1) N.T. Several police forces operate in Catalonia, including Spain’s Policía Nacional and Catalonia’s own police force, the Mossos d’Esquadra. The latter is tasked with law enforcement in nearly every area, including terrorism, as is the Spanish police. This makes a close liaison between both forces desirable but not always easy, particularly when relations are strained between Madrid and Barcelona.