Addressing a packed audience at the European Parliament, the head of the Catalan government, Carles Puigdemont, said on Tuesday 24 January that a referendum on the independence of Catalonia would be the exact opposite of the decision “by some to leave Europe”, a reference to the United Kingdom.
He argued that the proposed independence referendum is “pro-Europe in inspiration”: if Catalonia became an independent state it would be within the framework of the European Union. “We don’t see any other scenario”, he stated, pointing out that Catalan nationalism has always gone hand in hand with Europeanism.
Puigdemont also argued that, at the EU level, the independence of Catalonia would mean “an internal enlargement process without discontinuities”, in particular with regard to the economic and monetary union and the functioning of the internal market.
In his view, the referendum is “the most clear, powerful and internationally accepted mechanism to measure the will of the population”, criticising in passing the Spanish central government’s refusal to allow any such referendum.
Nevertheless, the Catalan president assured, with or without the approval of the central government, a referendum will be held before September 2017 “at the latest”, highlighting that a majority within the Catalan parliament backed independence (72 members out of 135).
Eric David, Emeritus Professor of International Law at the Free University of Brussels, told EUROPE after the Catalan elections in September 2015 (see EUROPE 11398) that, from a strictly legal point of view, secession then reintegration of a breakaway state into the EU should not present insurmountable problems in terms of international law. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)