A DIPLOMAT sacked by Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell ostensibly because of a letter he wrote suggesting Spain would not veto an independent Scotland joining the EU, has launched a broadside at his former boss, claiming he had been dismissed because of a beer.
Miguel Angel Vecino, who was sacked in June, said he never had any criticism from his ministry and had developed a good relationship with the Scottish Government in his time as consul-general in Edinburgh.
He made his comments as the Spanish digital newspaper Vozpopuli published detailed documents lodged with a Madrid court in support of his unfair dismissal claim, which highlight Spanish government concerns over support in Scotland for the Catalan independence movement.
Vecino told The National: “To my surprise and the surprise of my lawyers, the other day the ministry justified my dismissal because there was a letter written on March 30, complaining that I had a reception at my residence and one of my guests asked for a beer and they told him there was no more beer. And according to the ministry it was quite enough to be dismissed by Mr Borrell.
“It is in the papers as the official justification of the ministry. Can you imagine such stupidity?”
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He added: “I am extremely disappointed with my minister. I have done everything Mr Borrell ordered me to do. I did as best as I could and after eight months in Edinburgh I didn’t receive one word of criticism for what I was doing, or the way I was doing it.”
Billed as “The Scotland Papers”, Vozpopuli outlined instructions by Borrell’s chief of staff, Camilo Villarino, to Vecino on his work in Edinburgh, which was seen as politically relevant for the Spanish government because of the links between the Scottish and Catalan independence lobbies.
During a lunchtime meeting in a Madrid restaurant, Villarino told the new consul-general: “Scotland is the main refuge and support of Catalan secessionists,” and because of this “unconditional” support, the minister (Borrell) was very interested in everything that happened in Scotland.
That message was repeated to Vecino days later by Jorge Romeu, Borrell’s adviser for Catalan affairs, who stressed that “stopping and even eradicating the presence of the Catalan secessionists in Scotland was an absolute priority”.
Romeu said when Mariano Rajoy was in prime minister, nothing had been done to monitor the activities of Catalan independence supporters in Scotland.
He added: “The minister (Borrell) considers that combating nationalism is a priority of its foreign policy and Scotland is a key piece in its strategy,”
When Borrell was asked last November in Brussels if Spain would support an independent Scotland in the EU, he replied: “Why not? If you leave the United Kingdom according to the internal laws of the country and Westminster [the British Parliament] agrees, we will not be more papists than the Pope. Why what were we going to oppose?”
With the appointment of Pedro Sanchez as Spanish PM, Vecino noticed a “trend change” in Nicola Sturgeon’s executive, but Villarino urged him to be cautious, writing in an email: “Because the Scottish nationalists have interests that are not ours and because their supposed change of attitude would be in any case pragmatic and not founded on principles. And therefore fragile.”
On February 12, when the trial of independence leaders started, in a tweet that provoked some concern in Madrid, Sturgeon said: “These trials of elected politicians should concern all democrats. The future of Catalonia should be decided through the ballot box, not in the courts. I am sending my best wishes today to the Catalan President and those facing trial. Let’s hope the process is demonstrably fair.”
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