"If independence as such is a legitimate goal, but there is no legal way to pursue it, it must be legitimate to declare it unilaterally as long as the decision is made democratically." This is the assertion of Finnish Member of the European Parliament Jussi Halla-aho in a letter published in Britain's Financial Times newspaper.
The letter begins by quoting one of the editors of the Financial Times itself, Wolfgang Münchau, who said that a Catalan break with Spain would make Brexit "look like a cakewalk" because there are many arguments against an independent Catalonia; the most important being that "it would be expelled from the EU, from the euro and from the Schengen Area". For his part, Halla-aho denies this argument, responding that "such consequences do not result from independence itself but depend on the choices of those who are opposed to it".
As well, the European parliamentarian considers that Catalonia could not be shut out if it has not committed any offence, even though "some argue that the referendum violated the Spanish Constitution". In the same line, he argues that legitimacy is a wider question than "local legality" and remembers the majority of independent states that exist today were "born in an 'illegal' manner".