Catalonia readies the groundwork for another secession referendum from Spain

Protestors wave Catalan flags as they await the arrival of former Catalan President Artur Mas outside court in Barcelona, Spain, earlier this year.

The Catalan regional government is preparing the logistics for another referendum vote on secession from Spain – even though any vote will likely have no legal standing in the eyes of Spanish law.

A symbolic vote was held two years ago by pro-independence campaigners that drew more than two million voters with a desire to break away from Spain. However, turnout was relatively low given the fact that the referendum’s result had no bearing on actual policy…

A recent opinion poll carried out by the Catalan government found that around 45.3% of Catalans would be in favour of secession, with those against it slightly ahead on 46.8%.

Whether or not an actual binding vote would ever be granted is unlikely. Madrid and the Rajoy government have repeatedly stated that they would not countenance official referendum talk, and has even brought charges and sanctions to some senior politicians involved in the last vote.

But Raul Romeva, a former MEP and the Catalan government’s foreign policy chief, is ready to face such actions against him as he drives the movement for the next referendum vote in September.

“We are now preparing the referendum because… either in an agreed way or not, we need to be ready,” Romeva said. The Catalan government has recently met with their Madrid counterparts, but it is unclear whether the issue of secession was brought up. There are rumours that the Spanish government has drawn up an offer for moving forward, but so far nothing concrete has been approved.

“We are keen and ready to negotiate,” Romeva, a former MEP, said. “The offer we have put on the table to the Spanish government is if we can agree how and when we can hold the referendum.”

Romeva added that even if there is no agreement from Madrid, Catalonia will press ahead with organising and holding a referendum later this year.

The urge for some Catalans to break away from Spain has long been strong, and the secessionist voices have grown louder in recent years. Wealthier than the rest of Spain, the feeling among many Catalans is that an independent nation could thrive on its own, without having to see much of its wealth funnelled south to aid poorer regions.

However, with Spain’s economic turnaround, the strong urge to break away appears in some quarters to be waning. And with Brexit and the Scottish independence issue still to be settled, some in Catalonia are worried that a newly independent nation could find itself shunted out of the EU at a time when membership – for many at least – is non-negotiable.