Catalan independence advocate looks to Israel, Germany for funding
Barcelona High Court judge downplays doubts over possible "risk" to believe Israel would back a country seeking independence, given the Palestinian issue.
By JULIE STEIGERWALDPEOPLE WAVE Spanish and Catalan flags in Barcelona in September(photo credit: REUTERS)
Israel and Germany may be key to initially financing a Catalan state independent from Spain, a judicial advocate for a sovereign Catalonia has recently suggested.Barcelona High Court Judge Santiago Vidal said in the November-December edition of the local Delta magazine that the "facts indicates" that within three years a Catalan state could establish independence through "legal, political and peaceful means."Without initial membership in the European Union, an independent Catalan state could not appeal to the Central Bank of Europe to finance its debts, said Vidal, a member of a pro-Catalan independence expert group. "But there is a solution for this," Vidal said in the interview adding that "another state with solvency, basically speaking of Israel and Germany, will serve as our temporary bank."Vidal downplayed the interviewer's doubts over whether it was "risky" to believe Israel would back a country seeking independence, given the Palestinian issue.He stated that "the Palestinian issue is characterized by violence. Whereas, the Catalan issue is characterized by civic lessons, pacifism and the doing of good things that we are giving to the whole world. And this is something the Israelis like very much."Vidal gained attention in October when he faced possible persecution over his said pro bono work drafting a Catalan constitution proposal.He noted in the interview that between 2016 and the end of 2017 "a judicial constitution would be presented for this new state, with or without a deal" with Madrid.A long-standing breakaway movement in Catalonia, which accounts for one-fifth of Spain's economic output and has its own distinct culture and language, grew in strength during the recent years of deep recession.Reuters contributed to this report.
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