The EU helpfully clarifies the situation for Catalonia:
European Union officials have ruled out helping to mediate the clash between Spain’s government and Catalan officials over Catalonia’s upcoming independence referendum.
European Parliament President Antonio Tajani said at an EU summit in Estonia on Friday that the dispute is “a Spanish problem in which we can do little. It’s a problem of respecting Spanish laws that Spaniards have to resolve.”
Catalan officials, including the mayor of Barcelona, have asked the EU to mediate the tense standoff ahead of Sunday’s planned vote that Spanish authorities say is illegal.
Tajani says the EU is maintaining its support of Spain’s government because “on a legal level, Madrid is right.” He says: “I think it’s important to talk on a political level after Monday.”
The EU has said Catalonia will be ejected from the bloc, if it declares independence.
And now we’ll be able to discover if the Catalonians really want to be independent, or if they just wanted a direct line to EU largesse.