But the Catalan president says an independence referendum that took place on October 1 despite a court ban ruling it unconstitutional justifies splitting from Madrid. On Monday, Ada Colau, the popular mayor of Barcelona, warned that a unilateral declaration of independence would put “social cohesion” at risk. But EU nations are watching developments closely amid concern that Catalan independence could put further pressure on the bloc still dealing with the fallout from Britain’s shock decision to leave. The head of Spain’s chamber of commerce Jose Luis Bonet told Cadena SER radio that a unilateral independence declaration “would be a disaster”. “For Spain it would be extraordinarily negative and even for Europe it would mean enormous instability,” Bonet said.

Source: Dhaka Tribune October 10, 2017 12:22 UTC