EU 'Will Force' Spain to Recognize Catalonia as Independent State
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The European Union will force Madrid to recognize a Catalonian secession from Spain should local parliament and government agencies in the region unilaterally declare independence, the coordinator of the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) in the United States said.
According to ANC's Julia Strubell, Brussels would "force Spain to recognize Catalonia's independence… as the EU does not want a long drawn out political and economic conflict inside its borders."
She added that hypothetical Catalan membership in the bloc is a separate issue but "a pragmatic organization like the EU will not want a wild state, which China, for instance, would love as a European partner."
"The agreement [between the bloc and the Catalan authorities] will come quick, either in the form of freedom of movement or full membership," Strubell pointed out in an interview with Sputnik.
Many in Catalonia have long sought independence from Spain, accusing Madrid of constraining the region's economic and cultural autonomy and of unfairly distributing resources in the country.
Over 80 percent of Catalans who participated in an unofficial November 2014 vote supported seceding from Spain. More than two million people out of an estimated 5.4 million eligible voters took part in the informal, non-binding ballot. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has repeatedly said that Catalonia’s secession would be illegal.
