‘Borders can only be moved at the polls’

Note the phrase—it is important. It was uttered last week in Washington D.C. by Danish foreign minister Kristian Jensen, at an international conference on Crimea. Jensen was speaking about Crimea, of course, but he made it clear that he was referring to borders in general. He also mentioned Catalonia explicitly. The Danish parliament, let us recall, issued a historic message a few months ago calling for dialogue between Catalonia and Spain on the issue of Catalan independence. And in Washington, as head of one of the most advanced diplomatic corps in the world, Jensen opined: Borders can only be moved at the polls. His exact words were: ‘Borders can only be moved by pen and ballot’. The implications of the statement is that borders can be moved, obviously. But also that it is pointless to move or defend borders against the popular will expressed at the polls.

The day before yesterday, the US Congress also held an intense debate on the issue of self-determination. Again, Catalonia was the protagonist. I say this to raise awareness of the importance of what is happening here in Catalonia, of what we are taking part in.
The principle of self-determination is one that is still fraught, as much as many of us would like it to be settled.

There is no ‘numerus clausus’, no set group of nations that is universally agreed upon. And while the international community is still uncertain about how to apply the principle, the past ten years have seen been very significant steps forward.

Nearly six years ago the International Court of Justice issued a historic opinion on Kosovo, declaring that international law contains no prohibition on unilateral declarations of independence. In response to this opinion, advanced states have begun to formulate conditions to help frame the right to self-determination. In the case of Denmark, those would be ‘signatures or ballots’. In the case of the US, it has become fashionable to talk of independence as a gradual process, attained in successive stages through duly earned and shared ‘temporary sovereignties’.

Spain, in this respect, is out of step with contemporary developments, obsessed by a notion of the primacy of the rule of law over democracy that few still accept. Signatures or ballots. We, however, are on everyone’s lips. The time when Spain claimed that if we were to proclaim independence unilaterally no one would listen is long past. Evidence that it would not be so is so substantial that not even the minister of foreign affairs, José Manuel García-Margallo, can joke about it anymore. Spain realizes—and the fact becomes plainer every day—that its position will not hold up against reality.

The only thing needed now is for us to finish what we started. No more excuses or unnecessary postponements. It is time to get it right. To take action, fully cognizant of the step we are taking, avoiding improvisation, always mindful of the interests of the nation, serenely and without losing our cool (which has sometimes been a challenge). The ballots and polls await us as the protagonists of a new stage in international politics. The stars are aligned.