FINANCIAL TIMES
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Gideon Rachman
The Catalan government would love to vote on independence, but is being blocked by the Spanish government in Madrid, writes Gideon Rachman
ARRIVING in Scotland a few years ago, I was greeted by a poster boasting that Glasgow has “the latitude of Smolensk and the attitude of Barcelona”. It was a vivid example of the comradeship and admiration with which Scots look towards Catalonia. Barcelona, the Catalan capital, has many things Glaswegians covet: better weather, better food, better football. Now, however, Catalans have a reason to look enviously towards Scotland.
On Monday, it was confirmed that in 2014, Scotland will hold a referendum on independence. The Catalan government would dearly love to hold its own vote on independence, but is being blocked by the Spanish government in Madrid. Spain is attempting to thwart the movement for Catalan independence through the use of a legalistic catch-22. The central government says Catalan nationalists must respect the constitution of Spain. And that constitution makes it illegal to hold a referendum on independence.
The British are taking an approach that is more pragmatic and bolder. Prime Minister David Cameron could easily have insisted that only the British government had the legal right to organise a referendum. Instead, he has agreed to allow Scots to organise a vote on their future — on condition that independence should be the only question on the ballot.
On the grounds of justice and prudence, the British government’s approach seems wiser. Cameron, like Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, is a conservative and a patriot. Both men would be appalled to preside over the breakup of their nations. But the UK government has recognised that, by winning power in Edinburgh, the Scottish nationalists have earned the democratic right to hold a referendum on their goal of independence. There is no point in trying to find legalistic ways of thwarting them.
The British government’s approach, while risky, is also astute. Telling people there is something they are absolutely forbidden from doing is a sure way of stoking their desire to do that very thing. This principle — first established in the Garden of Eden — applies just as surely in modern Catalonia. By contrast, it may be slightly deflating for Scottish nationalists that a recent opinion poll showed stronger support for Scottish independence in England than in Scotland itself.
The parallels between the Scottish and Catalan causes are intriguing. In both places, nationalists date the loss of independence to the early 18th century. Both the Scottish and Catalan nationalists have used the European Union (EU) to bolster the case for independence. An independent Scotland or Catalonia, it is argued, need not fear isolation, since the new nations would be members of the larger European club — and so could combine independence with the security of membership of the EU.
Some Scottish intellectuals also argue that hostility towards the EU is a specifically English vice — and that Scots are much less chauvinistic. This idea goes down well in Brussels, where the notion that the English might be punished for their euroscepticism by Scottish secession tickles some people. In truth, opinion polls suggest that Scots are only slightly less hostile to the EU than the English.
The economic crisis in the eurozone has led the Scottish nationalists to downplay the European angle to their campaign. They now say that an independent Scotland would not immediately seek to join the euro and would instead retain the pound as its currency — in Scottish notes, as it is now.
Spain, by contrast, is right at the epicentre of the euro crisis, so the rest of the EU still looks good by comparison. Most Catalan nationalists insist their new nation would remain part of the euro.
There is, however, one big difference between the Scottish and the Catalan cases that helps to account for the difference in attitudes in Madrid and London. Scotland accounts for just 5.2-million of a total British population of about 62-million — and is widely regarded in England as being heavily subsidised by the rest of the country. By contrast, Catalonia accounts for 7.3-million of a Spanish population of 47-million — and is one of the wealthiest regions in the country. Its loss would be a terrible blow to Spain.
Still, even the English might find their stiff upper lips quivering slightly if Scotland really does vote for independence in 2014. Personally, I hope both the UK and Spain manage to stay together. But, if that happens, it has to be on the basis of consent. The Spanish government should stop hiding behind the law and allow a Catalan referendum. No marriage can survive simply by declaring divorce illegal.
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