Catalunya would cease to be part of the EU if it became an independent State, warns Commission
Tuesday, September 17, 2013 @ 11:00 AM
CATALUNYA as an independent nation would be left out of the European Union, warn sources from Brussels.
All legal protection, absence of trade barriers, rights of free movement and other benefits of forming part of the continental 'club' would cease on the very day the north-eastern Spanish region broke away from Spain, potentially creating problems with tourism, imports and exports, among other issues, says European Commission spokeswoman Pia Åhrenkilde.
“If part of a territory of a member State ceases to form part of that member State, because this territory has become a separate nation, the EU treaties will no longer apply to the outgoing region and would not be considered neutral,” Åhrenkilde stated yesterday (Monday).
This said, any State in Europe which 'respects the principles established within the treaties' is welcome to request EU membership, Åhrenkilde added.
Vice-president of the European Commission Joaquín Almúnia also said on Monday that he was 'very concerned' about the possibility of a sovereignty referendum being launched in Catalunya and has called for Spain's central government to 'sit down at a table and face to face' with the region's president, Artur Mas, to discuss the matter 'rather than doing so by letter-writing'.
Confirming Åhrenkilde's statement about how Catalunya would cease to be a part of the European Union, Almúnia stressed: “These things should be talked about, not via correspondence, at a distance, but around a table in a serious, calm and rigorous two-way discussion, free from emotions and in cold blood, in order to find solutions to what is, evidently, a huge political disagreement.”
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