Rull believes Spain will end up accepting Catalonia in the EU

Josep Rull, Organizational Secretary for CDC (Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya, one of the parties in Catalonias ruling CiU coalition) believes Spain will end up accepting that an independent Catalonia will continue to form part of the European Union, because leaving it out would be detrimental to Spaniards first and foremost. “There may be an initial veto, but if this new reality comes to fruition in the end and is recognized internationally, the first ones interested in Catalonia forming part of the EU will be Spain,” said Rull in an interview with the Catalan News Agency, in which he pointed out that 70% of the cargo that leaves Spain towards the rest of Europe passes through Catalonia. In addition, he suggested that the Spanish State would end up recognizing the new Catalan state once the international community does so.

Here is a translation of Mr. Rull’s remarks:

“A Catalonia outside the European Union would be detrimental first and foremost to Spain itself. A Catalonia with import and export duties would be detrimental most obviously to Spain and the rest of Europe. And therefore, if it’s not good for anyone, it doesn’t seem very logical to imagine this exclusion and create a sort of Robinson Crusoe’s island for ‘centuries of centuries’.

“This is the key point: Catalonia’s expulsion from the European Union doesn’t benefit anyone. It doesn’t benefit the European Union and it doesn’t benefit Spain. And let’s not forget: 70% of the cargo that leaves Spain headed for the rest of Europe is carried on trucks, basically on the AP7 and the AP2 highways, that is, through Catalonia.

“One thing is obvious: no one acts against their own interests. And a Catalonia that is outside the European Union would severely and adversely affect the Spanish State. Beyond rhetoric, it is logic that ends up taking precedence. There may be an initial veto, but in the end, that is, if this new reality ends up coming to fruition and is recognized internationally, and is operational, I’m telling you, the first one interested is the Spanish State.

“And a Catalonia created as a new state with a good relationship with the Spanish State can end up being beneficial for everyone. It can end up being good for Catalonia and good for Spain. Some say that that this process toward Catalonia having its own state could be the great restructurization that the Spanish State needs. You’ve got to look at the positive side.

“They can refuse to accept it at the beginning, but in the end, if there is international recognition, states end up being born just the same. Therefore, they can oppose it one, two, three years, but in the end, the world functions on a basis of clear, broad, democratic majorities. When the process has been carried out peacefully, impeccably, impeccably!, these new realities appear in the end. And that’s why in Europe and in the world, today there are many more states than there were a hundred years ago.”