ABSTRACT
The political parties and the well-structured social movement in support of a Catalan state after secession from Spain present the new state's uninterrupted membership of the European Union (EU) as the safeguard for the viability of independence for Catalonia. The question of Catalonia's potential secession from the Kingdom of Spain has a crucial EU dimension. The fact that both the Catalan and Spanish governments have mobilised great resources to illustrate their views on this matter implies that both are convinced that, when actually coming to some effective action a secession referendum or a decisive electoral decision the electorate should take the European dimension into consideration. The agreement between Convergncia i Uni (CiU) and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) included the commitment to consult the Catalan people: in the aim of situating Catalonia as a new State in Europe.
