Jorge Fernández Díaz “An independent Catalonia would be fertile ground for terrorism and organized crime”

The Spanish Minister of the Interior, Jorge Fernández Díaz, said Tuesday that independence would mean a loss of Catalonia’s international privileges: “It would be stuck in a political, legal impasse, outside EU treaties, outside NATO and without the shelter of the agencies and services that guarantee security in a global world like that of today”. And he added, “Catalonia would be fertile ground for terrorism and organized crime”.

Here are the declarations of the Spanish Minister (in Spanish):

He also said that these are threats that are “more global, that don’t understand political borders”. Afterward, he added, “I am talking about Catalonia the same way that I would talk about any territory that found itself with or hoped to have a status like these people are intending in Catalonia. You can’t live without this shelter in a global world.”

Indeed, he said that talking about a possible independent Catalonia wasn’t “very logical”. According to him, “it will continue to be what it has always been, Spain”. “It’s not that it belongs to Spain, no, it’s that Catalonia was a founding member of Spain through the Crown of Aragon,” he said. “Therefore, Catalonia has been Spain, is Spain, and will continue to be Spain even if some don’t like it.”

Fernández Díaz made these declarations in the context of a lunch organized by the ABC forum.