The Economy of Catalonia

would have to find alternative solutions which, if well organised, could be
equally satisfactory for the markets. If one has to be outside the European Union,
why not try to replicate other commercial agreements that the Union has
with countries such as Switzerland or Norway?»
Collective:
With respect to the EU, the imposition of tariffs or other trade barriers on
Catalan exports would run up against the interests of all the multinational
companies –Spanish or not– that are based in Catalonia […] The only reasonable
scenario in the hypothesis of a Catalonia that does not belong to the
EU is the maintenance of the status quo: the free movement of goods, persons
and capital between these two areas. One thing is not incompatible with the
other and there are some precedents to support it. Consequently, we consider
that there is no basis in fact for the predictions that have sometimes been made
to the effect that Catalonia’s exit from the EU would have a negative impact
on the Catalan economy due to trade with the EU being legally obstructed».
Each using very different words, the authors say there is no connection
between the juridical-political and the economic spheres, belonging or
not belonging to the EU, and the maintenance of the free movement of
goods, persons and capital. With respect to the three postulates established
by Llanos de Luna, what these authors do is to deny the third one
without questioning the first two.
J. F. Rubio took the opposite approach, upholding the unity of all three:
«Not belonging to the EU would increase tariffs and bring down wages to preserve
competitiveness, with the consequent cost for the Catalans’ welfare».
I find it more difficult to interpret the article by Casimir Dalmau, which
includes the following key phrases:
An independent Catalonia’s request for accession is a hypothesis that has not
yet been posed. Neither do we know whether it ever will be […] The fact is
that someone will have to explain that, except in children’s stories, a non-
Europe limbo simply does not exist».
On the one hand, he appears to accept the possibility of a Catalonia outside
the EU; but on the other, he seems to imply that he does not think that such
a situation would translate into harm for Catalonia, but he does not explicitly
say whether this would be so because the situation would be brief or because
a satisfactory solution would be arranged in the interim period.
In or out of the European Union 77