Spanish foreign minister sends nationality warning to Catalans

Jose Manuel Garcia Margallo, Spain’s foreign minister, told Catalans on Wednesday to be wary of the consequences should the area declare independence following the local elections on Sunday September 27.

He maintains that the 7.5 million residents of Catalonia would lose their Spanish nationality, and as a result their European citizenship, if this weekend’s election result leads to a declaration of independence. The minister dismissed the authenticity of the claim that Catalans could continue with Spanish nationality after independence.

Catalan nationalists on the other hand maintain that the Spanish Constitution entitles anyone who has Spanish nationality to keep it and that Catalans would be legally entitled to keep both their Spanish nationality and European passports whatever the outcome of the election.

Artur Mas, the Catalan president, believes that any future Catalan state will have automatic membership to the European Union. Mas told Reuters, “if we get a clear and specific democratic mandate on 27 September things will change because in the end the independence depends on our will.”

Meanwhile, the Barcelona football club, whose standing in the Spanish football league may be affected, has said it is neutral on the matter.