Speaking on Slovenia’s public TV broadcaster, Slovenian Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec mentioned a recent meeting with his Spanish colleague, Alfonso Dastis, where the latter conveyed Spain’s concern over the solidarity shown towards Catalonia by the parliament of Slovenia.

According to Erjavec, his Spanish counterpart even asked him if Slovenia “would make any decisions outside Spain’s legal framework”. In other words, whether it would recognise an independent Catalonia. Erjavec’s answer was crystal clear: “At the moment it’s impossible to say because Catalonia has not made an announcement yet”.

This newspaper has learnt that minister Erjavec is not particularly sympathetic towards the Catalan cause, but when approached by his Spanish colleague, he had not choice but to state the official position of the Slovenian government, which —on the whole— supports Catalonia’s right to self-determination. Speaking for his country’s TV, Erjavec explained that Dastis had asked to speak to him on Monday during the summit of foreign ministers of the EU, as he was concerned about the Slovenian parliament’s decisions on Catalonia. Erjavec stated that he had conveyed to Dastis Slovenia’s condemnation of the violence on October 1 and its support to self-determination as a universal right, with respect for the laws of every country.

Dastis’ concern stems from the Slovenian parliament’s decision last Friday to unanimously condemn the violence against the referendum, support self-determination and demand a peaceful solution for the Catalan issue with the start of talks between the Spanish and the Catalan governments.