Head of the European Commission on Catalonia: I do not want the EU to consist of 90 countries

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said that the independence of Catalonia from Spain could push other regions in European countries to try to isolate themselves.

Tsensor.NET informs about it , citing Radio Liberty.

"If we allow - although it is not our business - Catalunya to be independent, others will follow this example, I would not want it. I would not want that in 15 years the European Union would consist of about 90 states," Juncker said on October 13 during Speech at the University of Luxembourg. According to him, managing the EU in this form will be much more complicated.

The referendum on the independence of Catalonia was held on October 1. More than 90 percent of those who took part in the vote spoke out of Spain.

In Catalonia, the region's leadership signed the Declaration of Independence on October 10, but announced that its implementation had been suspended for a while to allow negotiations with Madrid. At the same time, the exact legal status of such declaration of independence remained uncertain enough to enable Madrid to take a concrete decision in response.

The Spanish prime minister, Mariano Rahoi, said that he gave the head of the regional authority of Catalonia, Carles Pucdemon, a period of five days, until October 16, to explain whether the independence of this autonomous region has already been proclaimed in the north-east of the country.

As Raho said in a speech to the Spanish parliament, if during this time Puccademon would say that independence has already been proclaimed, the government in Madrid will give Barcelona another three days, until October 19, to revoke such a declaration of independence.

If this does not happen, Madrid will exercise its right under Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution, which empowers the central government to virtually stop the autonomous rights of a region that fails to fulfill its obligations under the Spanish legislation and to assume direct leadership in that region.

In Madrid, previously, even rejected the idea of ​​negotiations with Barcelona on its independent status, denying the idea of ​​separating Catalonia in general. Madrid recognized the referendum with the question "Do you want Catalonia to become an independent state in the form of a republic?" unconstitutional: the current Constitution of Spain (which is a constitutional monarchy) does not envisage the right of regions to leave the country and defines the state as a unitary one.

With declarations of non-recognition of the possible self-proclamation of the independence of Catalonia, they have already acted in a number of European capitals.

ua.censor.net.ua , Original in Ukrainian / Українською мовою