Tremosa explained that even members of the Spanish delegation of the Socialist Party in the European Parliament "publicly admit" that Madrid's current strategy is not working. "When you are in Brussels, it's very difficult to justify why the Spanish government is still denying, not only an independence referendum, but also political dialogue with the Catalan institutions," he quoted PSOE MEP Ramon Jáuregui as saying.

The Catalan MEP pointed to the "very poor" arguments used by the Spanish government to defuse pro-independence wishes, adding that they make the case for 'yes' easier. According to Tremosa, threats of expulsion from the EU are unfounded. Catalonia, he argued, is "a very open economy, with 7,000 multinationals" and its commercial, tourist and industrial potential make that scenario unlikely.

"It is not easy to expel a country," he said, pointing to the difficulties that have emerged in the Brexit negotiations, even after Britain actually voted to leave the EU. Catalans, all polls show, want to stay in the European Union, even if they become independent.

"The Spanish economy would be seriously damaged," by a Catalan exit from the EU, he added. And "nobody" in Brussels would want the region to become a "Singapore in the South of Europe" that could do "social and economic dumping" to its former partners, he insisted.

"If the only answer from Madrid is 'you will be expelled from everything', it is very poor. Madrid is losing in Catalonia. If you do not hear the arguments of the other side, you don't try to argue against them; at the end of the day you would probably lose the debate," he explained.