Expert: Referendum in Catalonia will lead to "domino effect" in Europe - OPINION

Baku. 2 October. REPORT.AZ/ The results of referendum in Catalonia can seriously affect political stability in a number of European countries. 

The Russian political expert Pavel Klachkov told Report, commenting on the "referendum" held in Catalonia yesterday, which is not recognized by the Spanish authorities.

"Official Madrid will behave quite rigidly and firmly with regard to the Catalans' desire, based on their own resources and support of a number of countries in Europe and the world, in particular, France, Germany, USA. European countries are afraid of independence in Catalonia, as this will lead to "domino effect" in the European space and will cause political instability in a number of countries", Klachkov said.

According to him, success of the Catalans can lead to the desire to live independently of the same Spanish Basques, Scots, Flanders.

"I want to note that Catalonia itself is rich and the region's revenues make up a quarter of the GDP of the whole of Spain, which is about $ 200 bln, which further warms the residents' desire to separate," political scientist said.

"Today the spirit of regionalism is growing in Europe. The abolition of national identity in Europe did not happen, there was no substitute for common European values, no matter how hard they tried”, Klachkov added.

Pavel Klachkov

In his opinion, in order to ease tensions and stabilize the situation in the European space as a whole, relations between states and regions should change, and the mechanism for European consolidation as a whole should be revised.

"Europe to face a serious shake-up, however, I think there is no reason for serious concern: Europe has deep, strong ties. Europe is much stronger, more powerful than it may seem from the outside", expert said.