Why the EU Should Back Spain

Against Catalonia
Allowing Catalonia's disintegration could increase
nationalist movements elsewhere.

By Alfonso Valero

Until the events on October 1, in which images of police violently

preventing people from voting in Catalonia's referendum on
independence were beamed around the world, theEuropean
Union has kept a very uniform position: this is a Spanish affair.

After the confrontation of the Spanish police with demonstrators and

voters, the European Commission called for dialogue, while
maintaining support for the Spanish government. Some European
leaders, such as the Belgian prime minister, went as far as outright
condemnation of the violence.

The European Union has heard its share of lobbying on behalf of Catalan separatists.
Not only does the regional government have a permanent office in Brussels, but
Catalan nationalists have had representation at the European Parliament since 1989.
Both in the build up to the first illegal referendum on Catalan independence in 2014 and
the most recent one on October 1, the regional government sought to internationalize
the events.

The EU's stance

The position of the EU and the European leaders on Catalonian

independence has been one of self-preservation. Separatism exists
in France, Italy, Germany, Belgium and the U.K. – none of which want
to encourage divisions at home by supporting the Catalonian
separatist cause. According to this hypothesis, if the EU encouraged
Catalonia to separate from Spain, whether because it was guaranteed
EU membership or because the EU leaders intervened in favor of the
separatist goals, Spain could reciprocate if separatism flared up
elsewhere in the EU.

But this theory simplifies things substantially and assumes that the
success of Catalonian separatism rides on whether EU leaders – or
any other international entity, such as the UN– would recognize the
region's independence.

The EU requires that its members should guarantee "stable

institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights
and respect for and protection of minorities." If an EU member
infringes that obligation, the EU can act following articles 2 and 7 of
the Treaty of the European Union. Recent examples of this can be
seen in the EU's reaction toHungary's limitations of freedom of
association and Poland's limitations of independence of judicial power.

If the EU considered that the Spanish government had not allowed

democratic expression in Spain, there is nothing preventing the EU
Commission from initiating an infringement procedure.

European leaders have repeated many times that Spain is a

democracy with a very decentralized government that allows its
citizens to express their will, even when this will is that of separation
from the rest of the country. In fact, separatists are in power in
Catalonia: the current regional government is a coalition of three
parties which make up 72 MPs out of 135, but did not get the majority
of votes in the elections of 2015. The laws governing the recent
referendum were approved in violation of the relevant procedures by
fast-tracking the approval process.

The Catalan government also went against the Code of Good Practice
on Referendums of the Venice Commission, the very legal instrument
on which it based the referendum process. Contrary to this code, the
referendum was held in contravention of the Spanish Constitution and
the organization and procedure of the referendum was rudimentary.

European leaders are all too aware that since 1993, Spanish
governments have been propped up by Basque and Catalan
nationalists – in exchange, they have obtained more forms of self-
government and financial concessions. As a result, the current
situation has been helped by successive Spanish governments
who have agreed to withdraw the presence of central government in
the Basque and Catalan regions in exchange for votes from Catalan
MPs in the Spanish parliament.

The forgotten victims of this conflict are the Catalans themselves, who for the most part
– according to recent polling – want to remain Spanish, but are being used as pawns
by their politicians. A democratic government with the goal of becoming a democratic,
independent country does not send people to participate in an illegal vote so that it can
get international attention with photographs of the rioting.

Unilateral declaration of independence

The law of the referendum foresaw that in the event of a majority in

favor of independence, the Catalan government would unilaterally
declare independence as the Republic of Catalonia. Following the
referendum, the president of the Catalan government concluded that
there had been enough support for independence and therefore he
would soon make that unilateral declaration.
In the event of that declaration, the EU can only emphasize, again,
that should Catalonia become a separate state, it would need to apply
for EU membership. This is the same posture the EU adopted with
regards to Scotland's independence referendum and it's logical since
integration of a new member requires unanimity of the existing
members. Spain, of course, could block it and it is to be expected that
other EU countries would do too.

The EU should back Spain against separatists for two main reasons.
First, because democracy means guaranteeing the rights of the
citizens and enforcing the law. And second, because allowing
disintegration of a country would only increase nationalismelsewhere,
forgetting that Europe has historically been ravaged by nationalism.

This article was written by Alfonso Valero, principal lecturer for the
College of Business Law & Social Sciences in Nottingham Law School
at

Why Catalonia Should Stay With Spain

Leer en español
By RAFAEL ARENAS GARCÍAMAY 9, 2017

BARCELONA, Spain — “García,” my second name, is the most common

surname in Spain. It is also the most common surname in Catalonia, in
each and every one of its four provinces. Culturally, too, Catalonia and
the rest of Spain are basically the same: We mostly watch the same TV
shows, listen to the same music and enjoy the same movies.

Our shared history, too, is long and deep. Catalonia has been an
integral part of Spain since the nation’s inception. To be sure, Spain is
also a country with a complex history formed by the joining of different
medieval kingdoms. The Catalans actively participated in that process,
helping to draw up the first Spanish Constitution, the Cádiz one in 1812,
which established Spain’s modern nationhood.

Before that, Catalonia, as a part of the Kingdom of Aragon, was an

essential element in the political unity that began with the Catholic
monarchs in the 15th century. Even the very beginnings of Catalonia,
back in the ninth century, are linked to the creation by Charlemagne of
the Spanish March, the Frankish empire’s defensive buffer against
Moorish rule. The history of Catalonia itself is unintelligible outside the
Spanish framework.

Spain’s complex history is reflected in language. While Catalan,

Galician and Euskara (or Basque) are all languages spoken by the
Spanish, Castilian Spanish is the mother tongue of most Spaniards,
about 82 percent of the population, according to a 2012 Eurobarometer
survey. Spanish is also the mother tongue for a majority of Catalans,
about 55 percent.

In short, Catalan society is fully a part of Spanish society, and it is easy

for Catalans to identify as compatriots with all other Spaniards. Spain’s
economy and Catalonia’s are likewise inextricably linked — about 40
percent of Catalonia’s exports go to the rest of Spain.

I insist on these ideas because the Catalan separatist movement likes to

highlight the presumed differences between Catalonia and Spain, as if
they could be considered two different realities. Only a minority of
Catalans shares that view: According to polls, less than 23 percent of
the population feels exclusively Catalan; more than 72 percent of
respondents identify as Spanish to some extent.

The current Constitution of 1978 was successful in setting up a country

that, while maintaining unity, allowed for the creation of “autonomous
communities,” which let the different regions of Spain gain limited
rights of self-government. The system of governance is far from simple,
since not all of these autonomous communities enjoy the same powers,
and there are shared powers between the central state and the regions.
But the arrangement is probably the one that best responds to the
country’s characteristics.

Since the establishment of the 1978 Constitution, the Catalan

community has acquired considerable autonomy. At present, the
regional government oversees education, health, some infrastructure,
policing and prisons. The Spanish government retains authority over
customs, borders and international relations, although this doesn’t
prevent the Catalan government from carrying out what is referred to
as “external action” — involving dealings with other countries —
provided it doesn’t interfere with the state’s prerogatives. Many
Catalans are perfectly satisfied with the current situation, which
includes, through Spain, membership in the European Union.

That is why many Catalans like me have concerns about the secessionist
movement that now controls the government and the regional
Parliament. We do not want a movement to full independence that
would separate us from Spain, turning Catalonia into something
different from what it is now.

We are also worried that such a separation would distance us from the
European Union. Despite the secessionists’ mantra that independence
for Catalonia would not lead to exclusion from the European Union, the
practical matter is that if Catalonia became a new state, it could not be a
member of the European Union until the member states approved its
incorporation. That would take years of negotiation, at best — a
scenario of uncertainty and risk that is neither justified nor desirable.

Many Catalans are also concerned about the regional government’s use
of the powers it already has. In its push to create a new state, the
regional government is already breaking the law, defying the courts and
 usurping state powers. For example, public schools give most classes in
Catalan, including to those children who speak Spanish as their mother
tongue.

The power the regional government wields in foreign affairs is being

used to try to establish diplomatic relations with other countries to win
international support for secession. In the process, the Catalan
government is suspected of using public funds to build the structures
that a new state would need. This has involved, it has been alleged, the
setting up of databases, illegally and outside the regulatory framework,
to enable the future collection of taxes now largely managed by the
Spanish state.

These actions by the regional government threaten the democratic

guarantees of Catalans under the Spanish Constitution. If the
secessionists in the Catalan Parliament and executive branch continue
their reckless push for independence, it will threaten all the advantages
of stability, prosperity and security that Catalans have enjoyed for
decades by being part of the European Union, and for centuries by
being part of Spain.

What Spain has to lose

from Catalan
independence
From GDP to Olympic medals, what would
vanish if secessionists succeed.
By ARNAU BUSQUETS GUÀRDIA
9/11/17, 4:05 AM CET

Spain has a lot to lose if Catalan secessionists are successful in their

breakaway plan.

Catalonia makes up only 6 percent of the country’s territory and 16

percent of its population, but it accounts for a fifth of economic output,
a quarter of exports, over half of new startup investment in 2016 — and
nearly a third of Spain’s Rio Olympic medalists.
Independence supporters will gather Monday in Barcelona to celebrate
the Catalan national day, ahead of the October 1 referendum on
secession called by the regional government in defiance of Madrid and
the Constitutional Court. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s
government has pledged to do everything in its power to stop the
vote from happening.

While a majority of Catalans don’t see independence as the ideal way

forward, Madrid’s unwillingness to negotiate could still result in a
secessionist victory in the knife-edge referendum.

Here’s how national sentiment, language, place of birth and more play
a part in determining support for independence, and what Spain could
wave goodbye to if Catalonia does break away.