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MEMBER STATES AND EU VALUES: THE CHALLENGE OF NATIONALISM

85

Various Catalan leaders involved have since

qualified UDI as having been more rhetorical

than factual given their lack of means to make

it effective. It goes without saying that not a

single country anywhere in the world has sup-

ported or recognised Catalonia’s spurious decla-

ration of independence and that Spain’s part-

ners in Europe, which consider it to be an

advanced democracy that respects the rule of

law, have naturally been even less disposed to

do so. Leaders in every European capital includ-

ing Berlin, Paris and London, as well as commu-

nity leaders, presidents, the EU Parliament, the

European Council and Commission Presidents,

have affirmed their full support for the Spanish

government and called for the conflict to be re-

solved by political means within a legal frame-

work that respects the Spanish Constitution.

Independence forces long insinuated that

Catalonia would automatically become a full-

fledged member of the European Union upon

secession despite repeated reminders on the

part of the Commission – the body charged

with preserving the integrity of the Treaties –

that according to the Prodi doctrine “a newly

independent region would become, as a result

of its independence, a third country in relation

to the Union and all treaties would not apply to

its territories from the first day of its independ-

ence” and any new state seeking membership

would be required to submit its own application

for membership, which would not become ef-

fective until approved by all Member States, in-

cluding Spain.

While this groundswell of Catalan national-

ism, like many other intra-European conflicts,

may be rooted in historic disagreements, it is

also a reflection of a more general wave of pro-

sovereignty and identitarian thinking linked to a

desire to safeguard local prerogatives and cul-

ture in an increasingly globalised world. It is also

a consequence of an economic crisis and pro-

tracted recession that has tempted certain re-

gions to devise strategies – notable for their lack

of solidarity with others – for moving ahead to-

wards recovery as quickly as possible on their

own. A few irresponsible, power-hungry politi-

cal leaders are all it takes to get the ball rolling

in the wrong direction.

It is interesting to note that although the

Catalan independence movement includes left-

wing parties such as Esquerra Republicana

de

Catalunya, the scant support the Catalan seces-

sion process has received from elsewhere has

come almost entirely from right-wing parties

and leaders such as Nigel Farage (former head

of the UK Independence Party and front-line

Brexit advocate), Geert Wilders (founder and

leader of the Islamophobic Party of Freedom in

the Netherlands), Heinz-Christian Strache

(the

leader of the extreme right-wing Freedom Party

of Austria), Matteo Salvini (leader of the popu-

list and xenophobic League in Italy) and Jens

Eckleben (a founding member of the anti-Euro-

pean party Alternative for Germany). The sepa-

ratist movement’s friends in Belgium are limited

to the pro-independence, nationalist New

Flemish Alliance party, which harbours open

racists such as Theo Francken, and the uncondi-

tional support of the extreme right-wing Flemish

Interest party. The individuals and groups back-

ing Catalan secession are essentially the same

individuals and groups that supported Brexit

and a few autocratic governments such as those

in Warsaw and Budapest. Those bucking the

tide towards further European integration, the

suppression of borders and the convergence of

values and interests of similar societies have

much in common. In other words, support for

exclusionary, disunifying identitarian national-

isms, whether at the national or regional level, is

coming from the same quarters. The xenophobic