Carme Forcadell, in prison
If the EU had any real interest in demanding a certain level of democratic quality from its member states—or even to monitor that quality—Spain would’ve been kicked out a long time ago. A state that closes newspapers, that imprisons people for their beliefs, that decorates and pays homage to military personnel from the Franco regime, that forgives the worst delinquents, that pardons friends, acquaintances, and passers-by… With a decaying monarchy and head of state; opaque, dark, outdated. Spain, the champion of systematic noncompliance of European regulations and of European funding allocation fraud… With an unjust, manipulated legal system, fraught with political and economic interests. Montesquieu would have thrown himself off a bridge if he had seen where Spain is at.