Spanish PM warns Catalan businesses of danger of secession
BARCELONA, Spain — Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy warned Catalan business leaders on Saturday of “terrible economic consequences” if separatists win independence for the northeastern region.
Speaking in the Catalan coastal town of Sitges, Rajoy told the Circulo de Economia business group that if Catalonia breaks away from Spain it could lose up to 30 per cent of its GDP and would have to seek readmission to the European Union.
Catalonia, whose capital is Barcelona, represents a fifth of Spain’s GDP and has a population of over seven million.
Rajoy compared the campaign for the referendum on independence to the recent vote in Britain to leave the EU.