The Catalan regional government is planning to declare independence soon. However, it will not be able to refer to either international or the European law. The same thing as Kosovo did not become independent legally, but politically, Deutche Welle (DW) reported today.
The right of the people to self-determination is an important principle of international law, but it is also the protection of the territorial integrity of a country. The first principle is the one Catalan Movement for Independence refers to, while the second one is what the Spanish government refers to. However, international law does not provide for the right to secession, unless both sides agree, which is obviously not the case in Catalonia.
Creating a new state is not always a problem. When the Czechs and Slovaks separated in 1992, this was done by mutual consent, DW further reported. When the peoples of Africa proclaimed independence in the 1950s and 1960s, the colonial powers partially resisted, but the right of people to self-determination was a guiding principle in the United Nations.
Stefan Talmon, a professor of the international law from Bonn, thinks that the Catalans cannot refer to that: “The right of people to self-determination assumes that there is one nation that can exercise this right. A part of the nation within a national state, even if it has a certain identity, is not people who can call upon the right to self-determination in an international legal sense,” explains Talmon in an interview with DW.
It would not be possible for the Bavarians either, if one day they decided to separate from the FR of Germany. Same as Kosovo Albanians, they do not have a status of people in the international legal sense.
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but its international legal status has not yet been clarified. Serbia is still considering Kosovo as part of its state territory. The International Court of Justice in 2010 has come to the conclusion that the declaration of Kosovo’s independence is not a violation of international law. However, the court did not define the status issue and confirmed Resolution 1244 that guarantees the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, whose legal successor is Serbia.
In the case of Kosovo, however, things have been brought before the final act – in the meantime, more than half of almost 200 UN member states have recognized Kosovo as an independent state. Spain has not done so to date, as the government in Madrid is afraid that, based on the example of the latest Balkan secession Catalonia or some other areas that strive for independence could follow that path.
When it comes to international law, Stefan Talmon adds: “The existing states are in charge of international law. That is why it is highly resistant to changes in the terms of state integrity. No one cuts off the branch on which he sits”.
“If states allow secession “because of the subjective feelings of identity” of a certain group of people or regions, for a short time, Talmon is convinced, there would be no more 200 countries in the world, but 300 or 400 countries, DW reported.
