{"id":100481,"date":"2017-10-23T12:00:50","date_gmt":"2017-10-23T11:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=100481"},"modified":"2017-10-17T14:41:05","modified_gmt":"2017-10-17T13:41:05","slug":"wheres-the-e-u-in-the-catalonia-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2017\/10\/wheres-the-e-u-in-the-catalonia-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Where\u2019s the E.U. in the Catalonia Crisis?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Pro-independence supporters holding the European Union flag during a rally in Barcelona, Spain, on Oct. 10. Credit Francisco Seco\/Associated Press<\/p><\/div>\n

16 Oct 2017<\/em> \u2014 Amid the crisis in Spain this month \u2014 as Catalonia voted in an illegal referendum and threatened to declare independence, and Madrid has struggled to keep control of the situation \u2014 many people wondered: Where is the European Union?<\/p>\n

The truth is, there is plenty of blame to go around for the Catalonia crisis, and the European Union certainly shares some of it. European Union officials did hold closed-door meetings to try to calm tensions, but they could have done much more earlier to encourage dialogue between Barcelona and Madrid before it was too late. They also should have been clearer in their condemnation of police violence against Catalan voters on Oct. 1.<\/p>\n

This probably won\u2019t be the last time such a situation like this arises. Catalonia is just the latest battle in the European Union\u2019s war with populism \u2014 a war that it seems to be losing.<\/p>\n

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A man wears a sticker bearing the flags of the European Union, Spain and Catalonia during a pro-union demonstration in Barcelona, Spain, on Oct. 8.
Credit Albert Gea\/Reuters<\/p><\/div>\n

In recent years, referendums have become the populists\u2019 weapon of choice. They have been used increasingly over the past few years to give \u201cthe people\u201d the chance to answer direct questions. In Hungary: Should we participate in the European Union\u2019s refugee relocation program? (Indecisive: Referendum didn\u2019t get sufficient turnout.) In the Netherlands: Should the European Union-Ukraine free trade agreement go ahead? (No.) In Britain: Should we leave the European Union entirely? (Yes.)<\/p>\n

These referendums give an impression of democracy, but it is unclear that they really are an expression of the people\u2019s will rather than a way for populist movements to force democratically elected governments\u2019 hands. Still, the European Union, on the losing side in two out of three of these examples, is struggling to fight back against these blurred lines and to defend itself as a project on the side of democratic values.<\/p>\n

The key to a referendum is the ability to frame the question. The 2016 Brexit vote is a clear example. Although the referendum was posed a straightforward question (\u201cShould the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?\u201d), discussion around the issue incorporated everything from austerity to \u201cthe establishment\u201d to feelings about the government.<\/p>\n

In Catalonia, the referendum \u2014 which didn\u2019t have constitutional approval \u2014 asked whether Catalonia should choose independence from Spain. But in holding the vote illegitimately, the independence movement provoked a response from the Spanish government that changed the question to whether the Spanish government is handling some Catalans\u2019 desire for independence respectfully and peacefully, and indeed why other actors, like the European Union, are not ensuring that it does so. In widening the issue, the separatists have won more sympathy for their cause than they had before the vote.<\/p>\n

The reality is that given that there have been missteps on all sides in the Catalonian crisis, Brussels can do little more in the immediate situation than put pressure on both sides behind closed doors. The European Union is an intergovernmental organization constructed with the nation-state as its building block. One of these blocks is Spain. Mediation between the two sides in a dispute is not an option when one of the parties forms part of your decision-making body.<\/p>\n

Equally, megaphone diplomacy \u2014 like calling out the unconstitutional behavior of the Catalan independence movement \u2014 sounds hypocritical with allegations of unwarranted violence by the Spanish police being investigated. But quiet diplomacy has real value, and given the depth of the crisis, European Union leaders should be putting all their power behind it for now.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s just in the short term, though. The longer-term responsibility of the European Union\u2019s political leaders is to deal with the causes, not the symptoms, of the growing power of populist forces, of which the Catalonian independence movement is just one.<\/p>\n

They need to defuse the desire for an alternative on which populists are playing, by tackling the issues that European citizens care about \u2014 identity, jobs, responsive public services and security. The European Union won\u2019t be able to find necessary coherence to provide for its own security, much less project stability into its neighborhood, unless it is able to manage these types of problems. And elected governments delivering on issues close to voters\u2019 hearts can expose the lie that the only solution to their grievances is to vote against the system, in a one-off referendum, rather than to work with it.<\/p>\n

_______________________________________<\/p>\n

Susi Dennison (@sd270<\/a>) is a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and the director of the council\u2019s European Power program.<\/em><\/p>\n

A version of this op-ed appears in print on October 17, 2017, on Page A1 of the National edition with the headline: E.U. absent from crisis in Catalonia.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 nytimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

16 Oct 2017 \u2014 The problems in Spain are just the latest chapter in the ongoing battle between populism and the European Union. The truth is, there is plenty of blame to go around for the Catalonia crisis, and the European Union certainly shares some of it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100481\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}