Sticking to the government line, Spanish finance minister Luis De Guindos stressed that Catalonia will not be independent, upon his arrival at the Eurogroup on Monday 9 October.
There will be no declaration of independence, the minister stressed, speaking out against the radicalism and irrationality of the pro-independence Catalan authorities. He acknowledged that the situation in Catalonia was making noise and creating uncertainty, but that it would have no negative consequences for the economy in the short term.
Even so, he went on to say, the decision of the Catalan banks Sabadell and Caixa to move their headquarters out of Catalonia, but remain in Spain, is a signal. It means that under the current circumstances, these banks still wish to be covered by the umbrella of the ECB, he observed. From a monetary point of view, Catalonia's independence would have repercussions on the region's place within the Eurozone.
With the president of the region, Carles Puigdemont, due to give an address this Tuesday, the situation in Catalonia is not officially on the agenda of the Eurogroup or that of the Ecofin Council. It is an internal Spanish matter, said the President of the Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, declining to discuss it any further.
Several participants, however, felt that the situation was serious enough to have an effect at European level. The situation must be treated seriously with a rational approach, in other words through dialogue, said the Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Pierre Moscovici.
According to the Italian Minister, Pier Carlo Padoan, the Catalan political crisis is a further sign of the need to reinvigorate the European project, in reference to the current debate on deepening the Eurozone, and the evolution of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) in particular. Although some want to go in the opposite direction, this will harm the countries concerned and their citizens as well, he warned.
As for the Secretary of State for Finance, Ricardo Mourhino Felix, he told CNBC that the crisis in the region was a problem for the Eurozone and for the European Union as a whole. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)