Catalonia is at a crossroads. The demand of our people is to hold a free vote on our future path – just as Scotland plans next year, just as other European countries have done in the last few decades. The Spanish state must now find a route to accommodate the wishes of our citizens.

With the return of democracy after Franco's dictatorship, we – the Catalans – were able to rebuild our country and our heritage. For over 30 years, Catalonians have worked with Madrid to build a democratic, modern, European Spain, to create a state which could be ours. We had hoped that Spain would be understanding, tolerant, and above all respectful of Catalonia's personality, of its culture and its language, and of the hopes for progress and wellbeing of the Catalan people.

But recent events have forced us to think differently. Our statute of autonomy, agreed between our parliament and the Spanish parliament in 2006, and then supported by our people in a referendum, was unilaterally rewritten by the Spanish constitutional court in 2010, in a case brought by Mariano Rajoy, now prime minister of Spain. The Spanish education minister has made explicit threats against Catalan language education. These events have changed the relationship between our citizens and the Spanish state.

When we proposed to Madrid in 2012 that we should have the same fiscal relationship with the central government as is enjoyed by the Basque country and Navarre, our approach was brusquely rejected. Although we contribute much more to the Spanish treasury than most regions, we get disproportionately less in return – Catalonia ends up with considerably less per capita public expenditure then the average for all Spanish regions. Madrid has not even honoured its financial commitments to us under the revised autonomy statute. The Catalan people are effectively being told that we are not partners but subjects.

Some in Madrid have stated that there is no possible legal path for us to vote on our future. We disagree. Our own analysis suggests a number of perfectly workable options. The issue is clearly not legal but political. If Britain could delegate powers to Scotland to conduct its independence referendum, Madrid can respond to our people's demands with similar flexibility and imagination.

The will of our people is clear. On 11 September 2012, a million and a half people demonstrated in the streets of Barcelona for "Catalonia – Europe's new state". In our regional elections on 25 November 2012, parties supporting Catalonia's right to self-determination won 107 of the 135 seats. Polls show that 75% of those asked now support the right of citizens to be consulted in a referendum. The Catalan people have given a clear mandate to their representatives to move forward with the self-determination agenda.

This process must be, and will be, scrupulously democratic, and endorsed by the direct decision of our people. We will be demonstrably transparent about our plans. We intend to be absolutely peaceful, with a positive and open attitude. And of course we are and will always be European – Catalonia is already fully integrated with the European Union Catalonia and intends to remain within the internal market framework of the EU and the euro. With its innovative, dynamic, export-led economy, an independent Catalonia would be an asset to the wider EU economy – not a liability.

We do not seek isolation. Barcelona and Catalonia have always been diverse, dynamic and open, at the centre of trade routes across the Mediterranean and further afield, absorbing from the world's cultures, and contributing our own creativity in turn. But the terms on which business is conducted are crucial, and our mutual understanding with Madrid has collapsed. Reasonable offers are rejected out of hand; agreements are subverted by biased court rulings. The Spanish state has not discharged its obligations to Catalonia and its citizens.

On 11 September this year, our national day, hundreds of thousands of people will form a human chain throughout Catalonia, from the Pyrenees to our southern limits, inspired by the Baltic peoples who demonstrated in favour of restoring their freedom in 1989, united in demanding, "Let Us Vote!" For democratic states and people, there can be only one answer. Spain should follow Britain's example and allow the referendum to take place.