The most prosperous EU's regions claim the right to form a new state

With regard to Catalonia's independence declaration, which was passed by the Parliament of Catalonia on 27 October, most experts say there's no doubt that, on the long term, an independent Catalonia may be a good thing in terms of competition and regulation. Actually, Catalonia is one of the most prosperous of EU's regions.

Catalans only accounts for about 16% of the Spanish population, and 19% of Spain economy comes from Catalonia, which contributes $ 263 Billion a year to the overall Spanish economy.

Although Catalonia is bigger than many EU Member States, a very important condition for independence, to be an economic success, is that it happens peacefully. Unfortunately, Spanish government does not agree with Catalonia independence, and from a political point of view this is very different from the Scottish case, where the British Prime Minister said Scotland would hold a legal referendum. As it is known, in 2014 Scottish people voted to stay in the UK, but against Brexit in 2016. That's why Scotland should hold another referendum in order to leave the UK.

Catalans are not alone in the desire to form a new independent state and there are longstanding independence claims in other EU's regions, such as Wallonia, South Tyrol and Silesia, where people want more flexibility.  

This shows why populist movements in Europe are able to give an answer to the feel people are losing control of their own fate. As we have seen, during the last twenty-five years some countries grew enormously after they had become independent. Take for example the huge economic development of Slovakia, which split from Czech Republic in 1993.

In this perspective, Switzerland political system, in the hearth of Europe and outside the European economic area, may be a model: the Confoederatio Helvetica's decentralised entities, the Cantons, are allowed to be flexible in terms of taxation. Actually, Switzerland's federal legislation leaves a respectable amount of self-determination to the 26 Cantons, which may collect income taxes to finance their affairs, such as education system, universities, armed police forces and hospitals. And this helps to keep the country togheter.  

View of a pedestrian area in Barcelona (Catalonia)