BARCELONA: Scotland’s decision to remain in the United Kingdom has cost separatists across Europe political momentum. But the parliament in Spain’s Catalonia region on Friday overwhelmingly gave its leader the power to call a secession referendum on Nov 9 that the central government in Madrid has denounced as illegal.

The prospect of an independent Scotland has always captivated European separatists. Besides the Catalans, their ranks include pro-independence Basques in northern Spain; Corsicans who want to break away from France; Italians from several northern regions; and Flemish speakers in Belgium demanding more autonomy, independence or union with the Netherlands.

Ferran Abello, a 38-year-old dog trainer, said if Scotland had chosen independence that would have provided a roadmap for how to break up a nation that would later seek to re-enter the 28-nation European Union. “There are steps that Scotland would have taken first,” he said in the Catalan capital, Barcelona. “But they had the chance to vote and voted No, so we will have to knock that door down. “Scotland’s decision could delay successful secessionist efforts for years, said Marc Hooghe, a political science professor at the University of Leuven in Belgium. “The Scots could have led the way for other regions. They failed. So we will need a new ‘pioneer’ now, and that new pioneer has much less opportunity to get EU membership in a smooth manner,” he said.

Catalonia’s regional president, Artur Mas, supported a Yes vote in Scotland, but stressed Catalans simply want the same chance as Scots. “What happened in Scotland and the United Kingdom is not a setback for us because what we really want in Catalonia is to have the chance to vote, the same possibility,” Mas said.Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy have repeatedly said he will block a planned Nov. 9 vote for Catalans in the wealthy north-eastern region of 7.5 million people

Unlike the Scotland vote, the referendum in Catalonia wouldn’t result in secession. It would ask Catalans whether they favour secession. If the answer is Yes, Mas says that would give him a political mandate to negotiate a path toward independence. But Spain’s constitution doesn’t allow referendums that don’t include all Spaniards, and experts say its Constitutional Court would rule the vote illegal.Later Friday, the Catalan parliament voted 106-28 to give Mas the power to call a referendum. He didn’t say when he would sign a decree needed to set the vote.

Published in Dawn, September 20th , 2014