A Federal Spain in a Federal Europe Guy Verhofstadt
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DOI: 10.2478/tfd-2018-0009 THE FEDERALIST DEBATE Year XXX, N° 1, March 2018 Borderless Debate: European Federalism Facing the Catalonia’s Indipendence Movement A Federal Spain in a Federal Europe Guy Verhofstadt I have always been a profound admirer of multilingual, federal state embedded in Spanish democracy, but especially since a multicultural, multilingual, and federal February 23, 1981. On that dramatic day, Europe. Colonel Antonio Tejero attempted a coup Catalan separatists were wrong to call an d’état against the young democratic regime. illegal referendum. No one can govern In his acclaimed book Anatomía de un democratically without the rule of law. But it instante (The Anatomy of a Moment), Javier is also true that the existing legal framework Cercas describes how, under the threat of is incapable of healing such deep political Tejero’s pistol, three Spanish political leaders division. Sustained dialogue – the real sat upright in their seats, refusing to hide strength of effective politicians and statesmen under their benches. Not one of them – – between Spain’s leaders and Catalonia’s Communist Party leader Santiago Carrillo, separatists is the only way to find solutions. Adolfo Suárez, the first prime minister of I do not believe it is in the interests of post-Franco, democratic Spain, and Suárez’s Catalonia’s people to pursue separatism at deputy, General Gutiérrez Mellado – blinked. all costs. The fact that the referendum clearly It was an act of courage and determination violated the Spanish Constitution is not the that anchored democracy forever in the soul main reason that I could not support it. The of Spain. Under the pistol of Tejero, Spanish point for me is that the referendum lacked democracy was born. any democratic legitimacy whatsoever. It Today, 36 years later, Spanish democracy must was clear well in advance that a majority of steel itself once more if it is to overcome the Catalans, recognizing the illegal nature of deep division created by the Catalan regional the exercise, would not participate. Indeed, government’s unconstitutional bid to secede from all the evidence that has emerged, it from the Spanish Republic. Today’s democrats seems likely that a majority of Catalans, will need to show the same disciplined including those who stayed home, are against determination as Carillo, Suárez, and Mellado separation. to resolve Spain’s gravest political crisis since By refusing to establish a minimum Tejero’s attempted coup. turnout threshold for a secession vote to Spain’s democrats must not believe that be declared valid, the pro-independence law and the judiciary can address all of the leaders of Catalonia’s regional government problems with Catalonia on their own. revealed how they would portray the result Certainly, the Spanish authorities will not before anyone cast a ballot. Their deceptive overcome the crisis with police violence, even tactic reflected a disturbing willingness though the national government’s efforts to to manipulate their citizens. To declare halt the Catalan independence referendum independence on the basis of a defective were based on a court ruling. referendum was a politically irresponsible act What is needed now is a renewed political of contempt for democratic norms. vision, an inclusive dialogue. Realistically, Such irresponsibility is a threat not only for that vision can only be of a multicultural, Spain, and not just for Europe, but also for 42 DOI: 10.2478/tfd-2018-0009 THE FEDERALIST DEBATE Year XXX, N° 1, March 2018 Catalonia itself. As with so many referendums, illustrative in this regard. Under Spain’s this fake independence vote has opened a democracy, the Basques have developed their deep fracture in Catalan society. Families and region for the benefit of its inhabitants, not neighbors now stand divided – bitterly so in only defeating terrorism, but also reinventing many cases. The only people who will benefit themselves as proud and autonomous. from this legal charade, as we know, are In politics, there is no shame in compromise. those who want to destroy the EU and who Quite the contrary: When a choice must have already started to exploit the cause of be made between a constructive bargain Catalonian independence for their own ends. and ideological purity, it is always better to It is therefore vital that all the people of Spain choose the path of unity, however small the act to stop any further escalation and instead steps may be. begin negotiating. The future of Catalonia, In her famous book The March of Folly, the and the future of my own Flemish community American historian Barbara Tuchman warned in Belgium, where some are also agitating for against the urge to “throw away the greater independence, lies not in brutal separation, for the less” and to “pursue the unworkable but in cooperation within federal structures, at the sacrifice of the possible.” Leaders on in a federal Europe. both sides of Spain’s secession crisis would The experience of the Basque country is be wise to heed her words. 43 .