The Economy of Catalonia

It suffices to recall the countries or territories which do not belong to the
UN today to understand that this is not the appropriate path for Catalonia
to follow: the Vatican (which is an observer), Kosovo, Taiwan
(which was replaced by the People’s Republic of China in 1971), Ossetia,
Palestine, Western Sahara, Northern Cyprus, Somaliland, Transnistria,
Abkhazia and Nagorno-Karabakh. Some of them declared their independence
unilaterally and some have even been recognised as States
by some countries (as in the case of Taiwan, which is recognised by the
beneficiaries of its development aid). I believe it is unthinkable for Catalonia
to follow such examples. In its case, not belonging to the United
Nations would imply not only that it could not request admission to the
EU as a State, but also that its path would be cut off towards becoming a
member of the foremost agencies of the “United Nations’ Family”, such
membership being absolutely necessary to participate fully in international
life, which is essential in today’s world.
Conclusions
An independent Catalonia cannot aspire to continue being a member of
the EU if it is not recognised as a State by all the EU member States. To
begin the negotiations on admission to the EU, Catalonia would need
the unanimous approval of its request for accession and, in order to submit
the request, it needs to be a «European State» in addition to complying
with the «Copenhagen Criteria».
The experience of previous negotiations on accession shows that Catalonia
complies with the European Acquis, but negotiation is still necessary
to evaluate the weight that Catalonia should have in the European institutions
and to provide the EU with the assurance that Catalonia could
organise itself to comply with its European obligations.
Since Catalonia cannot afford to be marginalised from the EU, the euro,
the United Nations or other international bodies from the time of its
declaration of independence, what it needs, before taking up new challenges
in this area, is to achieve that none of the present-day member
States of the European Union opposes its request for admission to the
EU, which Catalonia will have left on separating from Spain, and it must
strive to achieve the necessary support for Catalonia’s recognition as a
“normal State” in international society in the capacity of a country hold-
In or out of the European Union 65