The Secretary for Foreign and European Affairs, Roger Albinyana, affirmed that the Government of Catalonia had no intention of interfering in the Scottish process and praised the disposition of the UK government for dialogue. In that regards he considered that ‘the UK government has done very well in allowing this vote, in transferring these powers to the Scottish authorities because precisely this is what is not happening in Spain”. This fact has allowed “the Brits and the Scots to have a debate on the question”.
With regards to a Catalan state being a member of the European Union (EU), Albinyana affirmed that the debate was premature and that for the moment the focus of attention was on the referendum to take place on the 9th of November. The Secretary added, however, that the EU’s response “would not be legal question” because the European treaties do not “say anything about what happens when a territory from an actual member state becomes independent and therefore the question will be political and will have to be discussed with the central government and will have to be discussed with the members states of the European Union.” This, he reminded, “will happen as well with Scotland should it vote in favour of independence on 18th September.”
Asked about other European territories possibly organizing similar referendums, Albinyana stated that the cases of “Catalonia and Scotland are very genuine, are very unique”. He explained in the Catalan case 80 per cent of Catalans are in favour of holding a referendum on Catalonia’s political future and that the percentages in Scotland are similar. We “don’t think that there are many other places in Europe in which a situation like this can actually happen”, he concluded.