Epidemic of separatism: who will win from division of Europe?
London has always enjoyed a reputation for being the staunchest Euro-skeptic, and its closed-door diplomacy with Bulgaria and Romania seems to be a weird backdrop for the current EU-Ukrainian deadlock on Kiev’s association with the Union: Brussels is inviting Kiev in while the pragmatic London is closing the door on migrants because there are already too many of them, as the Tories tend to argue. It’s a weird sort of a happy family where some are inviting you to come and feel at home, while others would rather have you close the door from the outside. Next in line to reign in labor flows with quotas are Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, and the Netherlands, who are trying to protect their labor markets from nations that are half as big as Ukraine. There are estimated to be 19 million people in Romania and only 7.4 million in Bulgaria. Compare that to 45 million-strong Ukrainian population and you might wonder if the EU door is wide enough to let them all in.
In a nutshell, there’s no knowing how Kiev’s Maidan revolutionaries have been mind-controlled into believing that their desirable prize of travel freedom is up for grabs, since it looks like neither Bulgaria nor Romania will be allowed anywhere near it in 2014 – and they will certainly object to Ukraine being served the Schengen pie ahead of the line.
Likewise, no one can really tell the cause behind this urgency of hustling Ukraine into an association agreement with the EU. Might it be because the EU in general and some members in particular, are secretly bracing themselves for problems with getting in and out of the union?
Rebellious Catalonians and the independence referendum set for Spain’s breakaway region next year on November 9 is but the latest headache for the European Union. Scotland has announced a similar vote on September 18. Both Catalonians and Celts believe they have a bright future away from the metropolis.
Alex Salmond, First Minister of Scotland and head of the Scottish National Party, says his people have an example to follow. Pointing to the other side of the North Sea, the Scottish independence advocate stressed that Norway, despite its oil-based volatile economy, was the only country in Europe without a budget deficit. “Norway’s oil fund is worth over £300 billion and a similar scheme for Scotland would help secure billions of pounds for our communities,” he said.
Yet, no more than 30 percent of Scots would say “yes” to Scotland’s independence from the UK, were they asked today. Not so few in Catalonia, where the rates stand at about 43-44 percent in favor of the break-off. “On the whole, we understand the reasoning of Catalonians,” says a Spanish resident Raymundo Menor. “But they really should think about the rest of the country first. Spain better stay united.”
“Their feelings are, of course, easy to sympathize with, although only few are willing to do that. They can be justified, considering what exactly they are so eager to leave behind; the ages-old monarchy and incurably corrupt government.”
Some Spaniards think their country has yet to come to terms with its past and finally learn to live as one happy family after it was wrecked by the Francisco Franco's dictatorship. Carlos Rodriguez, a 21-year-old student in Madrid, for example, believes that “Catalonia’s secession would be a mistake. I think this idea is rooted in the Civil War and the Spanish separatism. Spain still lacks integrity. It’s in the minds of a bunch of people who believe that Catalonia is a separate state, and not part of Spain”.
Of course, Edinburgh and Barcelona are worlds apart from what Kiev is going through. The only, almost intangible similarity is their blind trust in the benevolence of Brussels when it comes to problem-solving.
Both Scottish and Catalonian separatists, and now Maidan revolutionaries, have been blinded by the belief that the EU will automatically grant them entry, which is hardly the case.
Spanish premier Mariano Rajoy has dissuaded the breakaway region, saying that was never the EU’s intent. He also stressed that the planned referendum was against the constitution. The prime minister warned Catalonians that if a region opted to leave a member state and sought EU membership, it would have to start everything from scratch. The same would be true of Scotland, as EU accords and the recent statement by EU Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso suggest.
Source http://voiceofrussia.com/2013_12_16/Epidemic-of-separatism-who-will-win-from-division-of-Europe-5064/
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