How the Catalonia vote threatens the existence of the European Union

The struggles for and against independence in the Spanish province of Catalonia are emblematic of the European Union’s present strength and its future weakness. They also display the weaknesses, present and future, of the two leaders of the contending parties: Mariano Rajoy, the Spanish prime minister and Carles Puigdemont, president of Catalonia.

The declaration of independence made by Catalonia’s parliament a week ago was constitutionally illegal. Shots of huge pro-independence rallies obscure the fact that, in an opinion poll in the summer, 49.4 per cent opposed breaking away from Spain while 41.1 per cent supported it.