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EuroNews (26 October 2017)

The head of the European Commission has dismissed claims from Catalan separtists that they are being oppressed by the Spanish government.

Speaking to Portuguese television, Jean-Claude Juncker said: “In Catalonia, we are not dealing with a human rights problem because the Catalan citizens – that I love and whose culture and way of being I respect a lot – are not being oppressed by Spain.”

The former prime minister of Luxembourg said that nationalist sentiment was the biggest challenge facing the European Union at present.

“I think the biggest threat is nationalism. There is an urgent need to do everything possible so that Europe has power and the nationalism is a poison that prevents Europe from acting together to play an important role in world issues.”