Independence in a federal Europe (2 of 3)

If we accept that the Catalan people have the right to decide, the next question is practical: why do they want independence? A people's independence is for itself, not against any other. Ultimately, nothing is more natural than wanting to decide for oneself.

However, in a globalized world, sovereignty is never complete, but rather partially shared. All the states of the European Union have ceded powers in essential areas, and both the current state of affairs and the foreseeable future indicate that they will have to cede even more. No single European state is a player on the global stage, while the European Union, with more than 450 million inhabitants and almost 20 trillion euros of annual GDP—one-sixth of the world total—is a first-rate economic power and, above all, a social power, with the most balanced and just model of society on the planet.

In fact, the independence I hope for Catalonia is linked to the progressive overcoming of nation-states and full integration into a federally organized European Union, with an explicit and voluntary transfer of part of its sovereignty to a democratically legitimate European government. In practice, this would mean the full maintenance of all the powers that Catalonia already exercises, but without external limitations, while at the same time creating a Europe capable of acting together in foreign policy, basic taxation, defense of fundamental rights, security and territorial integrity, with a single European army.

From this perspective, independence is a tool for making better decisions in areas closest to the citizen—health, education, infrastructure, social policies—and, at the same time, for contributing to a shared European project, essential in today's world.