Catalonia could ask Europe for help #news #politics #eu #usa

by Helena Spongenberg

While London and Edinburgh signed an agreement on Monday (15 October)
allowing Scotland to hold a referendum on independence within the next
two years, Barcelona said it might look for international help in
order to convince Madrid to allow Catalonia to hold their own
referendum on independence.

A month ago, Barcelona faced the biggest independence rally ever with
one and a half million people on the streets calling for independence
from Spain. The following week, talks on a new fiscal agreement
between the Mediterranean region and the conservative government in
Madrid broke down, leading to the President of Catalonia, Artur Mas,
to call for early election on November 25th.

The Catalan parliament then agreed to hold a consultation on
independence within the next four years if the majority of lawmakers
in the new parliament, following the election, is also in favour of
such a consultation. The latest polls show that Mas' party is set to
win with a comfortable majority.

But the response from Madrid has been anything but affectionate on the
idea of a consultation on independence, let alone, the potential
break-off of the north-western region of Spain – one of the most
economically productive regions in the country but also heavily
indebted at the moment. According to the Spanish Constitution it is
illegal for the autonomous regions to hold a referendum on
independence. That is why Mas wants to hold a 'consultation' asking
something in line of whether the Catalans wants "Catalonia to become a
new state within the European Union."

Spanish President Mariano Rajoy has no intention of authorising such a
consultation on independence in Catalonia. The government "will use
all the legal instruments at hand to prevent any illegal action," said
Rajoy's 'right hand' in the governing Partido Popular, María Dolores
de Cospedal on Monday.

Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón went further and warned Mas
that he could be committing a crime if he calls for a separatist
referendum. "If a person commits an unlawful act … then that person
will be held responsible", he said on Spanish television.

Foreign Minister José Manuel García-Margallo asserted on Tuesday (16
October) that the planned referendum in Scotland cannot be applied to
Catalonia. "In Spain it goes against, not only, Spanish law, but also
against the European by virtue of the treaty of the European Union,"
he said according to Europa Press.

"We have to internationalise the conflict," Mas said about Madrid's
warnings. If the central government denies Catalonia to hold a
consultation on its own future, it would be "a very big problem of
democratic legitimacy," he added.

"We will have to go to Brussels to explain that they don't even let us
consult with the people," he stated. Mas insists that the Catalan
people have the right to decide on their own future.

Brussels, on the other hand, has refused to get involved in the
"conflict" that has become increasingly tense in Spain, with every TV
show, radio programme and coffee break mentioning the latest comments
made on the issue of Catalan independence.

"It is indeed not the role of the Commission to express a position on
questions of internal organisation related to constitutional
arrangements in the member states," said Commission spokesperson Pia
Ahrenkilde-Hansen on Monday, when asked about the Commission's view on
the possible independence of a region in the European Union.

She added that "the Commission would express its opinion on the legal
consequences under EU law" only if, for example, Spain asks the
European executive to do so.

One Catalan compared the relation between Madrid and Barcelona of that
of a father and his teenage son: The more authoritarian the father
becomes, the faster his son packs his bags and leaves home, no matter
the cost. The more compassionate the father is, the happier the son is
to stay living in the parental home.

But the fact is, that the issue of Catalan independence – or 'further
interdependence with the European Union and also with Spain, but with
the instruments of a state on its own' as President Mas likes to put
it – is taking a lot of attention away from the core issue of the
Spanish economy in crisis. Attention away from the severe cuts
Catalonia and Spain as a whole will be facing in the coming months,
especially if the Troika arrives in Madrid.

http://blogs.euobserver.com/spongenberg/2012/10/16/catalonia-could-ask-europe-for-help/