David Landon Cole · @dlandoncole
17th Sep 2014 from TwitLonger
Quick translation of http://www.elmundo.es/espana/2014/09/17/5419360e22601d41218b456c.html
Rajoy: the referendum processes of Catalonia and Scotland are 'a torpedo to the waterline of the EU'
The Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, today disavowed processes such as tomorrow's referendum in Scotland and, without mentioning it, holding any plebiscite on independence such as the one that Artur Mas, president of the Catalonian regional government, would like to hold.
Rajoy assured that 'everyone in Europe thinks that these processes are enormously negative because they worsen the economic recession and increase poverty for everyone'. A referendum like that in Scotland is 'a torpedo to the waterline of European integration', said the head of the Executive, because 'Europe came together to join states together, not to break them apart'.
The PM was questioned during the government's parliamentary time by the Basque Nationalist Party's spokeperson, Aitor Esteban, who asked if the Spanish government would 'facilitate the accession' of Scotland to the EU.
The PM said, on the other hand, that it was plainly obvious and that the both the EU's treaties and the president of the European Commission said that 'if a part of one State separates itself from that state, it becomes a third party with regard to the EU'. As a result, it would lose the single currency, the protection of the ECB and all the advantages of belonging to Europe.
Rajoy reminded the Basque Nationalist Party and Convergence & Union that such a region could then ask to join the EU, a process that took Spain eight years and 'much longer for Croatia', as well as needing 'unanimous agreement from the 28 EU member states'.
Ultimately, the independence processes would be 'bad for the region, bad for the state and bad for the EU'; as such, 'there would be very little support for any such moves', he concluded.
After Rajoy, Pere Macias of CiU questioned the Deputy PM, Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, regarding the Catalan process. She reinforced that the right of self-determination was not recognized by the Spanish constitution, or by practically any other constitution. She added that 'democracy is voting, but also respecting that which has been voted for'. 'What you're asking for', she argued, 'is against the Constitution and also against your Statute of Autonomy'.
Santamaria said this after Macias had invited her to 'not fear the ballot boxes, to debate and to reason' as, in his opinion, the British PM, David Cameron, had done in offering 'a substantial improvement to Scottish autonomy'. 'His way is to convince while yours is to threaten'. The Catalan deputy was referring to the Foreign Secretary, Jose Manuel Garcia-Margello, who said yesterday that the Government would use 'all legal means', including article 155 of the Constitution, to prevent an referendum on Catalan independence.
Margallo made clear, when asked by Amaiur [Basque nationalist left party] that, from his point of view, there weren't similarities between Scotland and Catalonia. The Scottish referendum had been carried out 'in accordance with the law', a situation that did not exist in the Spanish case. In any case, the foreign secretary said that 'Scottish secession would be bad for them, bad for Spain and bad for the EU'.