Catalonia plans secession like Kosovo #news #politics #eu #usa

This comes after the province's authorities said they would call a
referendum on self-determination. Catalan politicians want a new state
of the European Union to be "Greater Catalonia" which would include
the Balearic Islands, the Valencia region - and perhaps also some
border regions toward France. This policy will be put to the test in a
referendum planned for 2014. Italian newspaper La Stampa writes under
the headline "Catalonia like Kosovo" that this Spanish province wants
to unilaterally declare independence.

The authorities in Barcelona, especially after a demonstration held
by half a million Catalans in favor of independence, and the football
derby Barcelona-Real Madrid, during which Catalan fans waved flags and
carried a large banner reading, "Independence," also seeks five
billion euros in aid from Madrid to cope with a huge debt of 42
billion euros and a growing budget deficit.

Barcelona is also demanding that in the future, Catalonia, Spain's
wealthiest region, should collect its own taxes, after they calculated
that eight percent of Catalonia's GDP is now being distributed to help
other Spanish provinces. Some commentators are now wondering whether
many European and western countries would move to recognize
Catalonia's unilateral declaration of independence - something
impermissible under Spain's Constitution - just as they recognized
"the right of Kosovo" to unilaterally declare independence from
Serbia.

The conclusion was unanimous - that they will not - because those
countries that have recognized Kosovo insist that it is "a unique
case" - although some commentators have noted that this is in fact a
policy of double standards and "boomerangs that come back".

The Iberosphere internet portal, which carries political analysis of
events in Spain and Portugal, writes that "It is again time to stop
the radicals on both sides. In Kosovo it took a war, or two, to come
to this conclusion. This time it would be better to learn from history
and act early."

A unilateral declaration of independence of Catalonia is contrary to
the provisions of the European Union and the European Commission has
made it clear that the secession of Catalonia wouldl mean that the new
state would have to apply to be admitted to the EU, which requires a
unanimous approval of all member states - and therefore the government
in Madrid.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has recently requested that in
that case, the European Commission must enforce a fundamental article
of the founding act of the EU, the Lisbon Treaty, which prohibits
unilateral secessions of regions of full-fledged EU member-states.

The political leader and president of the Catalan government, Arthur
Mas, however, said that the referendum question would be, "Do you wish
for Catalonia to become a new state of the European Union?". According
to him, this means that Catalonia would not be leaving the EU, but
only separating from Spain to became a new state in the organization.

Some commentators suggest that the examples of Catalonia, Scotland,
and Flanders could further encourage the always powerful, party
violent Basque separatism in Spain, but also similar tendencies in
other regions in the EU, such as South Tyrol-Alto Adige in Italy,
Corsica in France, and a part of Romania where ethnic Hungarians are a
majority.

http://www.b92.net/eng/news/world-article.php?yyyy=2012&mm=10&dd=18&nav_id=82717