The Economy of Catalonia

ing Union and because of a lack of guarantees (collateral) registered as
securities belonging to EU countries which could be offered as sureties
to access the ECB liquidity lines. This would lead to a credit strangling
that would have a highly negative effect on the Catalan banks’ financial
capacity and that would make it even more difficult for Catalan companies
and families to gain access to credit and for the Catalan Government
to finance itself through the Catalan financial institutions.
Obviously, Catalonia could continue to use the euro on a de facto basis
as is the case in Montenegro, Kosovo or micro-States such as Andorra,
San Marino, Monaco and the Vatican; but Catalonia would lose the full
rights it now holds to use the euro as a member of the euro area.
Moreover, in a union of States like the EU, an independent Catalonia
could not continue to be an institutional member unless it could become
a European State, and as things stand today it is not clear that Catalonia
could become such an independent State since it forms part of the constitutional
Spain, which was formed in a democratic way with broad
support of the Catalan population and which joined the European Community
in a process and under terms that were accepted by the people
and the political parties in a totally democratic way.
Would it be easy for Catalonia to re-enter the EU if it
ceases to be an EU member as a result of its
independence process?
Catalonia cannot afford to be left out of the EU because its strong economic
and social links with the 28 States (including Spain) would suffer
the effects of the separation at least during the long transition process
leading up to its readmission.
In an independence process that is not agreed on with the rest of the
member countries of the European Union –including Spain–, the possibilities
of re-joining the EU would be very slim even though the present-day
Catalonia is already a member of the EU as a region of an EU
member State, simply because any member State could veto the candidature
since unanimity is required in this intergovernmental area.
The EU has not established any internal enlargement process to allow the
re-entry of a previously separated part of a member State and, according to
In or out of the European Union 61