A date was set last month by Regional Parties in Catalonia on a date for a referendum poll to decide on whether Catalonia should leave Spain to become an independent country. Popular Party (conservative) Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's Government are stating the poll is unconstitutional. Noises are even being made to suggest that the Spanish Constitution (of which Catalonia has been part of for centuries) requires Spanish Citizens in the rest of Spain to have a say. With initial momentum appearing to be with the Separatists, Madrid has been clearly trying every trick in the book to thwart the separatists' aspirations.
The European Union has been generally supportive to the Spanish cause, suggesting that an independent Catalonia (as in the case of a prospective independent Scotland) will have to re-apply for full European Union membership, and membership of the Euro. Voting on Member States joining the EU is one area in which National Governments of existing EU Member Nations can still operate a veto: in fact Madrid has suggested it may veto Scotland's accession.
Let us not forget though that article 6 (1) on the Treaty of European Union states that a prospective EU Member State must abide by certain principles in which existing EU Members subscribe to. Amongst those very princples is democracy itself. If Madrid continues to take this position on vetoing Scotland's EU Membership (should they vote for independence), and also continues to suggest the Catalonian Referendum is unconstitutional, then that could be interpreted as an example of an existing EU Member State not abiding by article 6 (1). Would the EU as a whole wish to be associated with such a suppression of democracy?
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