On a visit I made to Barcelona just ahead of the controversial referendum on Catalan independence of 1st October, my local interlocutors were clear: the ongoing crisis is more political than constitutional, and dialogue is the only way forward. President Puigdemont, who heads the autonomous government of Catalonia, now seems to think so too.
Dialogue is particularly urgently needed over the policing of Catalonia. The violent treatment of would-be voters captured headlines at the start of the month—but there is even more at stake. Following the terrorist attacks in Barcelona and neighbouring town of Cambrils seven weeks ago, local media reports highlighted the lack of trust between the national and local police forces that play a security role in Catalonia. Crucial evidence and intelligence was apparently not shared between the different services in the lead up to the August attacks, which if pieced together could have heightened suspicions about the Moroccan terror group’s international trips to Paris and Brussels and its ringleader’s criminal past.
For historical reasons, consolidated in Catalonia’s Statute of Autonomy of 1979, the Generalitat (autonomous government of Catalonia) controls its own police force, the Mossos d'Esquadra. Since 1994 the Mossos have gradually taken over public safety, public order and judicial policing and criminal investigative functions fulfilled elsewhere in Spain by the Guardia Civil (in non-urban areas) and National Police (the CNP—in urban areas). The latter two forces answer to Spain’s Ministry of Interior and retain officers in Catalonia to assist in countering terrorism, and to deal with immigration matters and the issuing of national identity documents under central government jurisdiction.
In the political struggle over Catalan independence, the relationship between local and national police forces has soured in recent years and now risks becoming much worse. The Madrid government sent in CNP and Guardia Civil anti-riot squads to close down local voting stations on October 1st precisely because the Mossos d'Esquadra refused to use force to do so. The CNP and Guardia Civil accused the Mossos of doing little to disperse polling station staff and the public; the Mossos cited the local judicial order requiring them not to disturb civic peace. The head of the Mossos, Josep Lluís Trapero, has subsequently been summoned to appear before the National Court in Madrid, along with a group of Catalonian officials arrested in September ahead of the referendum, all under investigation for sedition.
"The relationship between different Spanish police forces has soured—and risks becoming much worse”Spain’s European partners may do well to reflect on what this turn of events means for wider European security and intelligence cooperation in the trans-national fight against terrorism. In May, a regulation came into force establishing Europol’s new functions as the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation, with a particular focus on countering terrorism, cyber- and organised crime at the EU level. Most EU member states, Spain included, coordinate their regional and national police investigations and intelligence-sharing with Europol through a single national agency. In the UK, this is the National Crime Agency, including for matters under the remit of Police Scotland; in the German federal system it is the BundesKriminalAmt—BKA—on behalf of federal agencies and their Lander equivalents.
In Spain, a National Europol Unit (UNE) plays this role, but the CNP and Guardia Civil also enjoy direct relations with Europol. The Mossos, however, are reportedly reticent to coordinate with Europol directly—or indirectly, through nationally-controlled channels. Current tensions mean it is highly unlikely that a national-level review of the gaps that occurred in intelligence-sharing ahead of August’s terrorist attacks will take place any time soon.
This matters for the success of the EU’s new Law Enforcement Cooperation Agency, which is part of a longer-term effort to speed up counter-terrorist coordination within and across EU borders. Before the November 2015 Paris attacks, Bavarian state police uncovered a stash of AK47s in a vehicle which had Paris coded into its GPS, but the dots were not joined up. For subsequent attacks, probing the international connections of the perpetrators now requires even faster footwork across a number of national security agencies, above all in the virtually borderless Schengen zone of the EU, which includes Spain. Blockages and in-fighting between national law enforcement agencies are in no one’s interest.
The time may be ripe for the European Law Enforcement Coordination Agency to invite representatives of all national and sub-national police forces across the EU to coordinate directly with Europol. This may not sit easily with the European Commission’s public respect for the national sovereignty of EU member states, but in the cat-and-mouse game of countering cross-border terrorism and crime European security cannot wait for national dialogues to replace the political stand-offs that may prevail for some time in Spain.
