Editorial: a red/yellow rag to the Spanish bull

Photo: Urmas Nemvalts

By those desiring independent Catalonia, Madrid is so angered as to resort to intimidation – playing the EU «trump card». Recently, the Spanish foreign minister Garcia Margallo said an independent Catalonia would be cast into the solitude of outer space, forever and ever separated from the European Union. The Spanish premiere Mariano Rajoy, in his turn, likened an independent Catalonia to the lone island of Robinson Crusoe.

All told, the future painted by Madrid is as follows: Catalonia would lose the euro, lose the single market, lose the advantages of the Schengen area, and would be thrown into isolation; its citizens would lose EU citizenship and all the advantages tied to that.

Still, a recent expert analysis ordered by the Catalan government shows quite the opposite: it would be in the interests of the European Union to have Catalonia as its member. Thus, the regions would probably not have to exit the bloc at all, or if only for a brief period of time while the formalities are settled. While according to law an independent Catalonia would no longer belong to the European Union, it would have no problems applying for membership, or else the situation would be solved otherwise by tweaking the laws.

According to the expert analysis, the reason is not just political but also economical. It would be in the interests of the union, it says, that the economically prosperous and strategically located region would never exit the EU but stay where it rightfully belongs.

Even so, obviously the expert analysis is not going to convince Spain its arguments are weak. Especially so as, to the eye of an outside observer, they are not about to have a discussion on a referendum in Catalonia, much less on its separation. Meanwhile, seeing the independence minded flags aren’t about to disappear from Catalan balconies, a dialogue and at least hearing what Barcelona has to say feels like the only solution. 

The same kinds of arguments are also aired over the independence-referendum in Scotland. With one difference: as London found out intimidation did not work, it changed rhetoric. No longer is the talk so much about how small, lonely and isolated the independent Scotland would turn out to be; rather, emotionalism is the argument: Scotland leaving would break the English heart. Currently, at least, emotions look like a tool more effective than intimidation.

Independence is not merely a problem between Scotland and England or Catalonia and Spain. The issue of the right of self-determination touches upon the very foundations of democracy that Europe rests on. If Spain says no to aspirations of independence and excludes a referendum – no matter how politely, on the surface, or the legalities claimed – it means these foundations should be clarified all over again.