[LINK] "Catalan Leader Hopes EU Will Convince Spain to Discuss Split"

[rfmcdonald]

Bloomberg's Sangwom Yoon and Esteban Duarte write about how the Catalonian president wants the European Union to encourage Spain to negotiate Catalonia independence, so avoiding a more disruptive unilateral declaration of independence.

Catalan President Artur Mas said he hopes to avoid a unilateral declaration of independence by leaning on the “biggest” European Union countries to convince Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to negotiate the split.

“Some European countries will get involved in the affair” if the central Spanish government continues to refuse to collaborate on Catalonia’s independence, Mas, 59, said in an interview in New York. They could try “to convince the authorities in Madrid that it is always better to negotiate and to reach agreements because the economy is at stake.”

The Catalan leader made the two-day visit to persuade asset managers and business executives to keep investing in Catalonia and support its secession because separation will guarantee a better economic future for both the Catalans and the Spanish. He also delivered a speech at Columbia University, in which he invoked American poet Robert Frost by likening Catalonia’s path to independence as the road less traveled.

Mas said he will begin the process of separating from Spain if pro-secession parties win a majority in the Sept. 27 elections, even though the Spanish government calls any such moves illegal. The Catalan leader agreed Mar. 31 on a road map toward independence with Oriol Junqueras, the leader of his separatist allies Esquerra Republicana, another political party.

While no European countries have voiced support for Catalonia, their neutrality on the matter is a positive signal for the Catalans, Mas said.