Spain storm may end in civil war, says EU official
SpAIn could soon erupt in civil war, a top EU official warned yesterday as the crisis in Catalonia deepened.
In a highly- charged intervention, Günther Oettinger said the dispute over the region’s independence risked spiralling into Western Europe’s first armed conflict for decades.
Despite the EU’s reluctance to become involved, Mr Oettinger, an ally of Angela Merkel who serves as the bloc’s budget commissioner, said the situation is ‘very, very worrying’. ‘ There is a civil war imaginable now in the middle of Europe,’ he said. ‘One can only hope that a thread of conversation will soon be recorded between Madrid and Barcelona.’ The use of the phrase ‘civil war’ is particularly antagonistic to Spain due to its bloody civil war from 1936 to 1939.
Catalonia, in particular, will baulk at the suggestion because the region played a key role in the conflict. Speaking at a discussion in Munich, Mr Oettinger insisted the EU should not intervene in the dispute and that moderation ‘would only be conceivable if we were asked’.
In another major development, Spain’s Constitutional Court tried to block Catalonian officials from declaring the region’s independence by stopping a key parliamentary meeting next Monday.
Spain’s government warned the region that such a move amounted
‘Launch rapid procedures’
to ‘ blackmail’. Last night the speaker of the region’s parliament, Carme Forcadell, said the ruling by the court ‘harms freedom of expression and the right of initiative of members of this parliament and shows once more how the courts are being used to solve political problems’.
Meanwhile, Banco Sabadell, Spain’s fifth largest bank which owns TSB having bought it from Lloyds two years ago, announced it will move its ‘registered domicile’ away from Catalonia.
A spokesman said it will launch ‘rapid’ procedures that within days will move its legal base, but not its HQ and employees, to the eastern city of Alicante.
The board of Spain’s third largest, Caixabank, will meet today to discuss a similar move. The Madrid government appeared to fan the flames of economic uncertainty in Catalonia by announcing it will change the law to make it easier for companies to re-locate their HQ without having to hold a shareholders’ meeting.
It means the economic stability of Catalonia is looking uncertain.
Madrid tried to shut down last weekend’s independence ballot with a policing operation that saw hundreds of people injured and turnout at just 42 per cent.
The Constitutional Court previously ruled that Sunday’s vote, in which 90 per cent of people backed independence, was illegal.
Catalonian officials ignored the order to the fury of Madrid which said stopping the vote was to enforce the ‘rule of law’.