We risk opening Pandora’s box if Catalonia becomes independent. Nationalists in Scotland, Flanders, Padania, Madeira, Bavaria, Scania and elsewhere are also all clamouring for independence (and that’s just in Western Europe!). Europe could end up split into a mosaic of squabbling, ever diminishing micro-states. At a time of profound crisis and mounting populist nationalism, the rush to breakaway could create dangerous potential for conflict.

Catalans don’t dance flamenco and they’ve banned bullfighting as cruel and barbaric. They are part of a distinct, proud nation with its own language, history, culture and flag, and that separate identity has survived Franco’s brutal attempts to suppress the Catalan language in the decades after the Civil War. Supporters of independence argue that their language and culture is not sufficiently respected by the Spanish central government, and they worry that, unless something is done, their culture will be absorbed.

2. UNEQUAL PARTNERSHIP Every year, Catalans are forced to contribute billions of their hard-earned taxes to the Spanish government’s coffers in Madrid (paying in about ten billion more than it gets back). Those demands have pushed Catalonia into debt and left a wealthy country struggling to provide basic services for its own people. The refusal of the Madrid government to grant Catalonia even basic fiscal autonomy enjoyed by the Basque Country shows that, according to this argument, only through independence will Barcelona be able to take control of its finances and its economic future. The split can be smooth and there is no reason why the Catalan Republic cannot remain in the European Union, euro-area and Schengen zone.