The Economy of Catalonia

In November 2012, Granell expressed his opinion in greater detail in a
lecture given at the Economists’ Association. A summary appears on the
Association’s website:
For Catalonia to be recognised as a State, all the EU countries must ratify such
status and, naturally enough, that is something that Spain would not do.»
In short, Granell agreed with the first two postulates: Catalonia would be
born outside the European Union and Spain could veto its admission.
Indeed, he considered it highly probable that Spain would veto it.
The second expert we will consider here is the Oxford academic Graham
Avery, a senior adviser of the European Policy Centre, an Honorary Director-General
of the European Commission and a participant in several
EU enlargement processes. At the request of the British Parliament, on 17
October 2012 he expressed his opinion on how Scotland’s independence
would affect its status in the EU. A summary of his words is given below:
In the debate on Scottish independence, it is natural that opponents tend to
exaggerate the difficulties of EU membership, while proponents tend to minimise
them. This note tries to address the subject as objectively as possible. In
summary it argues that:
• Arrangements for Scotland’s EU membership would need to be in place simultaneously
with independence.
• Scotland’s 5 million people, having been members of the EU for 40 years,
have acquired rights as European citizens.
• For practical and political reasons they could not be asked to leave the EU
and apply for readmission.
• Negotiations on the terms of membership would take place in the period
between the referendum and the planned date of independence.
• The EU would adopt a simplified procedure for the negotiations, not the
traditional procedure followed for the accession of non-member countries.
Consequently, unlike Granell, Avery does not take a legalistic approach
but rather a practical one. For him, Scotland would be born a member of
the EU because independence would be postponed until a simplified accession
process has been completed to avoid the complications of an intermediate
situation for all parties involved.
To what extent is Avery’s opinion applicable to the case of Catalonia?
From the standpoint of the EU rules and of mutual interests, the two
In or out of the European Union 73