EU Member Spain Ignores European Standards

• 10.23.2017, 14:55
• Greta Avetisyan
•  Europe,  "Insight" Analytical Center ,  World,  Analytics

Catalonia's aspirations for independence have endangered the region's autonomy. Madrid refuses to accept the right to self-determination of Catalans and will apply Article 155 of the Constitution for the first time in its history, depriving Catalonia of its autonomy.

The steps that the official Madrid is applying today, can hardly be regarded as democratic or relevant to the principles that are so important in Europe. Not allowing Catalonia to become independent, Madrid actually denies the right of self-determination as a principle of international law. And one of the reasons for such a policy may be that it tries to avoid the precedents of independence with the right to free expression of will. For example, once again, the problem of Basques may arise.

In the current situation there is no definite opinion among Catalans as well, which in turn complicates the issue, becoming a "playing card" in the hands of the official Madrid. Though 90% of the participants voted for independence on October 1, only 43% of those eligible to vote participated in the referendum. Such a low level of participation can be explained by the steps taken by Madrid, the actions of the police, but not only. Before the referendum, polls showed that only 42% of Catalonia's support independence. Naturally, this fact should have been manipulated by Madrid, to show that it is not the majority that supports independence.

However, it should be noted that even with such arguments, as well as striving to maintain the unity of the country Madrid simply cannot ignore the right to self-determination and resort to harsh measures.