​During the 126th Plenary session of the European Committee of the Regions, EA Group members called on the European institutions to take stance and not ignore recent developments in Catalonia.

At the margins of a debate with the European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs Pierre Moscovici, Karl Vanlouwe, EA Group President and member of the Flemish Parliament said that the “EU cannot stay silent when there are political prisoners in Europe. As a democrat I cannot ignore Catalonia, it is my duty to talk about the elephant in the room and call for the release of the 10 political prisoners in Spain."

Another EA group member and Member of the Scottish Parliament, Mairi Gougeon criticized the decision not to hold a debate on the issue. “There is no bigger issue in the regions in Europe right now than Catalonia and I find it shocking that we do not discuss this and that we seem to be ignoring a large group of citizens”.