I wonder if the USA will intervene as energetically on behalf of the independence-seeking Catalans as it has on behalf of others who have successfully pursued self-determination:
Spanish prosecutors said on Thursday they would bring criminal charges against members of Catalonia’s parliament, as Madrid moved to crush the region’s plans for an independence referendum.
Separately, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said he had appealed to Spain’s Constitutional Court to declare the referendum illegal. The 1978 constitution states Spain is indivisible. “This vote will never take place,” he told a news conference. “In making the appeal, we are defending the rights of all Spaniards and all Catalans.”
A majority of Catalonia’s parliament voted on Wednesday to hold the Oct. 1 referendum, in an acrimonious session in which mainstream political parties left the chamber before the vote and pro-independence lawmakers sang the Catalan anthem.
The Constitutional Court has yet to rule on the matter but it declared a 2014 vote on independence illegal. The state prosecutor-general, Jose Manuel Maza, told reporters he had also asked the security forces to investigate any preparations by the Catalan government to hold the referendum. These could involve printing leaflets or preparing polling stations.
There is an air of unreality surrounding the entire affair. But really, if the Catalans genuinely want independence, why should they not have it? The Spanish government doesn’t appear to understand that it is calling its own democratic legitimacy into question.
Let’s face it, no one wants another Spanish civil war. The crazy thing is that an independent Catalonia would almost certainly turn around and demand admittance to the EU.