Europe and the Catalan referendum

After the independence referendum in Catalonia, Romania reiterates its firm support for Spains sovereignty and territorial integrity

Bogdan Matei, 03.10.2017, 13:51

Last year’s referendum on Brexit, which resulted in the ongoing divorce between London and Brussels, seems to have opened a real Pandora’s box. Perceived as a unitary whole, a space of common values, democracy, prosperity and accord for decades on end, Western Europe is currently devastated by a separatist trend which on Sunday swept over Catalonia and the whole of Spain. The regional government in Barcelona has announced that 40% of the electorate, that is less than two and a half million voters, participated in Catalonia’s independence referendum and 90% of them voted for the region’s breaking away from Spain.

So, far from having reasons of exultation, the separatists were backed by not even half of the electorate. In turn, the Spanish government, which had long before declared the referendum as illegal and violating the Constitution, has been sharply criticized by the European partners for the great show of zeal made by the police officers deployed to block voting in Catalonia’s independence referendum. They injured hundreds of secessionists, forcefully entered schools and other public buildings including polling stations, seized electoral materials and took control of the center where the votes were to be counted.

Both political and economic analysts say that the split between Barcelona and Madrid would be followed by an expensive partition for all. Catalonia, an autonomous region with a population of seven and a half million people is the most prosperous, as well as the most indebted region of Spain. Its public debt of 44 billion Euros should be paid if Barcelona no longer enjoys backing from Madrid. On the other hand, over 40% of Spain’s exports of electronic products and vehicles come from that region, also providing 12 of the 60 billion Euros the country annually gets from tourism.

The European Commission has urged the Spanish government to “move very swiftly from confrontation to dialogue” and has denounced the use of violence during the referendum. The Romanian Foreign Ministry has announced it regrets Sunday’s incidents triggered by non-compliance with Spain’s constitutional order and has reiterated Romania’s firm support for that country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

A press release of the Foreign Ministry says that Spain “is an important ally and strategic partner of our country, a relationship reflected both bilaterally and within the EU and internationally”. The press release further says “the legitimacy of any process or action pertaining to the internal order of a state consists of its observance of the Fundamental Law and of the rule of law in the respective state. That is why, Romania reiterates its consistent stand for the observance of international law, which does not allow for territorial changes to be made without the agreement of the state concerned.” (Translated by A.M. Palcu)