by Rab Bruce’s Spider

Many of us are appalled by events in Catalonia and the actions of the Spanish Government in denying democracy. The EU’s weak response has also caused some people to reconsider their views on whether joining (or staying in) the EU is a good idea.

As this site has said before, the EU is far from perfect, but we really must recognise that it is not Europe’s Policeman. It is not an authoritarian entity which exercises absolute political control. If it were, the Brexiteers would have had a much stronger case when arguing that the EU controls what sovereign Governments can do. Some people might wish it did have those powers, but it simply does not.

The EU does, of course, have control over many economic aspects of its member States, particularly if, like Spain, they use the Euro. But for the EU to inflict any sort of financial penalty on Spain for what the EU views, rightly or wrongly, as an internal Spanish matter, would be a step further than they have gone before. Also, any such decision cannot be made quickly, since all member States would need to agree a plan of action, even if that plan was to delegate decision-making to an appointed representative or group of representatives. Whether any action at all will be taken remains doubtful for the moment.

It must be said that the moral case for intervention is strong, because Spain would probably not have been admitted to the EU if it were a new applicant behaving in the way it is currently doing. The moral case is also strong because the EU should recognise democracy and not Fascism.

But the political case is much more nuanced. By acting as a Policeman, the EU would be setting what many member countries would view as a dangerous precedent because it would most definitely be interfering in the sovereign rights of a member State. When some of those member States, notably Poland and Hungary, are already behaving in increasingly authoritarian ways, they are never going to support the EU taking any action against Spain.

It would be nice to think that the EU might at least condemn the actions of the Spanish Government, but for whatever reason, it has declined to do so. That is extremely disappointing, but it does not fundamentally undermine the case for an independent Scotland remaining in the EU. The benefits of access to the Single Market, of being a part of the organisation and therefore hopefully being able to exert some influence, the benefits of free movement, of research funding, of Human and Workers’ Rights, are all very important issues, as we are seeing with all the outcry over Brexit and the harm it will do to the UK. These are not small matters to be dismissed because Spain’s Government has revealed itself to be dictatorial. To turn our backs on the EU because one member State is behaving appallingly would be short-sighted.

None of this is to condone the EU’s insipid response, but we ought not to condemn the entire organisation for a poor decision in one area.

Let us not forget that the UN has been largely silent on Spain as well. Indeed, the UN itself rarely intervenes directly in such issues unless the interests of some of its major nations is at stake. So far, the Catalan issue remains confined to Iberia.

I wish the Catalans well. I hope they achieve independence, and I hope the Spanish Government will see sense although they seem to have little incentive to alter course at the moment. I do wish the EU would come out with a strong condemnation and even threaten some form of financial penalty for not following democratic principles, but I suspect I will be disappointed in that hope.

But, for all that has happened, I still believe that, on balance, an independent Scotland would be better off inside the EU than on the outside looking in.