Spanish intelligence service confirms it spied on Catalan leaders

Spain’s intelligence service has confirmed that it carried out authorised surveillance of nearly 20 individuals linked to the Catalan independence movement, in the latest development of a spying scandal that is putting increasing pressure on the coalition government.

The head of the CNI intelligence service, Paz Esteban, made the admission while appearing before MPs in the parliamentary official secrets committee on Thursday for questioning about recent allegations of widespread spying. The phones of more than 60 Catalan independence leaders were the targets of surveillance using Israeli-made Pegasus spyware, according to the claims. The Spanish government has said that prime minister Pedro Sánchez and defence minister Margarita Robles were targeted using the spyware last year.

Although the content of the committee meeting remains classified, Spanish media have reported that Ms Esteban said the CNI had put 18 individuals linked to the separatist movement under surveillance with judicial authorisation, including the president of Catalonia, Pere Aragonès.

The calling of the secrets committee had caused political friction, with unionist parties objecting to the fact that several Catalan and Basque pro-independence MPs were eligible to attend and gain access to classified information.

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The response to the meeting was also divided. While the governing Socialist Party and parties on the right said they were happy with the information provided by the security chief, representatives of the Catalan and Basque nationalist parties who were present said they were dissatisfied.

“There are still a lot of doubts and we still have the same uncertainties that we had when we went in,” said Mertxe Aizpurua, of the Basque party EH Bildu.

‘Two possibilities’

Gabriel Rufián, of the Catalan Republican Left (ERC), said after the meeting that the espionage that had not been accounted for “points to one of two possibilities: that [it was carried out] by a foreign nation or, secondly, by state institutions which have spied beyond their legal capabilities”.

Interior minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska has been reported as being the third member of the cabinet who was the target of Pegasus surveillance, although the government has not confirmed this. The phones of other ministers are being analysed for signs of having been hacked.

The crisis has already damaged relations between Mr Aragonès’s regional government and Mr Sánchez. On Wednesday the Catalan leader, who has called for a full investigation and for those responsible to be sacked, said that the Spanish government’s handling of the scandal was “dynamiting” dialogue between the two administrations.

This has cast doubt on whether Mr Sánchez’s leftist coalition, which needs the support of Mr Aragonès’s ERC, will be able to see out the legislature.

In addition, the affair has opened up schisms within the Spanish government itself. Unidas Podemos, the junior partner in the coalition government, has echoed ERC’s calls for Ms Robles, the defence minister, to resign.

Meanwhile, there has been confusion over which government department or agency was responsible for the prime minister’s phone when it was hacked, allegedly in May 2021. Ms Robles appeared to identify the prime minister’s office as being responsible, while others in the government have pointed to the CNI.