Rajoy compares Catalunya secession with Brexit and says: “There will be no referendum for as long as I am president”

“Catalunya will be out of the EU if it becomes an independent State, whatever they say to the contrary,” the PP leader argued during an Economic Circle conference in Sitges (Barcelona province).

“The whole world can be absolutely certain that I will not permit a referendum in Catalunya and will attempt to impose common sense – and let's not forget that everyone who believes in this country needs to get involved, it's not just an issue for politicians.”

Rajoy added: “There will never be a referendum in Catalunya for as long as I am president of Spain.”

He said the consequences of independence for the region would be 'terrible', and compared it to Britain's plans to leave the European Union.

“They said nothing would go wrong with Brexit, and yet now we're having to talk about the rights of European citizens and how much money the UK will have to pay,” Rajoy pointed out.

“There are those who said there would be no negative consequences for the UK, but who have since said the 'Leave' campaign's claims were highly exaggerated and that they had been lied to.

“Brexit will have dreadful consequences for the British people and for the rest of Europe, despite its being carried out via a set legal process.

“For this reason, we need to be clear on what the impact would be on Catalunya if it secedes from Spain.”

One of these drawbacks would be that an independent Catalunya would be outside of the EU 'whatever they say', according to the president.

He adds that 'everyone has their own reasons' for wanting the referendum to go ahead, but that 'some have more reasons than others'.

“Equidistance is all very well, but not all the time and not in every aspect of life,” Rajoy stressed.

The economic fall-out for Catalunya would be 'terrible', Rajoy says, and quoted his minister in the field, Luis de Guindos, who said this week in Sitges that the region would lose up to 30% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as well as ceasing to benefit from EU funding and ending Barcelona's dream of being the venue for the European Medications Agency (EMA), currently based in London and which Spain's second-largest city is vying for post-Brexit.

“For as long as I'm president, I do not want to, nor can I, allow an independence referendum in Catalunya or in any other part of Spain – I feel very Spanish and, therefore, I defend national unity and national sovereignty; not a sovereignty which is compartmentalised.

“Independence for Catalunya would liquidate centuries of history and affectionate ties of every type, and the people of Catalunya would be forced to choose between being catalanes, or being Spanish and European.

“It would effectively liquidate the Spanish Constitution, the Statute of Catalunya, national unity and sovereignty, and would pull Catalunya out of Europe – what levels of radicalism are we trying to reach? How can you leave such major decisions in the hands of extremists such as the CUP [Catalunya's pro-independence party]?”