Legal considerations regarding a hypothetical unilateral declaration of independence by Catalonia: a legally unfeasible political scenario

Resumen

Catalonia cannot in any way be considered a subject in its own right with a purported ‘right to decide’ in the event of a hypothetical materialisation of a unilateral declaration of independence. And this cannot be so either on a domestic level or on an international one. Both the Spanish Constitution and international law directly oppose any type of secession by part of a territory of a State that, as is the case with Spain, is founded on the principles of democracy and the rule of law. States have a kind of duty to refrain from recognizing the aspiring State resulting from a unilateral declaration of this kind, as to do otherwise could be even interpreted as meddling in Spain’s internal affairs. It appears beyond any legal doubt that the nascent State would be left out of all the international organizations of which Spain is a member, including, of course, the European Union. Quite another matter is clarifying whether, on a political level, attempts could be made to find Catalonia a new constitutional ‘fit’ within Spain that respected territorial unity and were reasonably satisfactory to all involved.