Cameron warns Mas that an independent Catalunya would have to 'join the back of the queue' for EU membership
Thursday, September 10, 2015 @ 10:08 PM
BRITISH prime minister David Cameron has warned Catalunya that if it wants to become an independent nation, it will 'have to join the back of the queue' when applying to become part of the European Union.
Stating that 'together we are stronger and more prosperous' – despite having pledged to hold a referendum on the UK's ongoing membership of the EU in 2017 – the Conservative leader says if the north-eastern region of Spain wants to 'take a different path', it will need to 'comply with international law' and wait its turn to join the European Union behind other candidates waiting to be considered, including Turkey and some of the Balkan nations.
“Spain is a great country with a long history, like the United Kingdom, and is better together,” Cameron told regional president Artur Mas in a recent press conference.
“If I had to send you a message, it would be the same as in Britain during the Scotland independence vote: we're better together, and should stay together,” said the PM in a meeting with Spain's president Mariano Rajoy in the Moncloa Palace, the Spanish answer to 10 Downing Street.
Although Cameron says the situations for Scotland and Catalunya were 'not completely the same', the 'primordial condition' linking them both was that they are both obliged to 'comply with the law', he stated.
Catalunya does not agree, with its pro-secession parties claiming the European Union 'would never kick Catalunya out', missing the point that as a brand-new country it would not be able to continue as a member on the back of Spain's only status as one of the EU-28.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com