Prague, Oct 30 (CTK) – The equal proportion of the advocates of independent Catalonia and those who want the region to remain a part of Spain shows that no new state is in the making in Catalonia, President Milos Zeman told Czech Radio (CRo) on Monday.
“If it is one to one, I am for Spain’s territorial integrity,” Zeman said.
He said he would evaluate the situation differently if the separatists prevailed in the ratio of nine to one or eight to two.
Madrid says the recent independence referendum in Catalonia violates the Spanish constitution.
Earlier on Monday, the central government took over the administration of the autonomous region and the Spanish prosecutor’s office has accused the deposed government and the dissolved parliament of Catalonia of rebellion, which carries up to 30 years in prison.
Zeman also said for all his reservations about some steps taken by the EU, it was the Czech Republic’s fate to be in the EU.
“We should stay in it and criticise it from inside for its ill-considered steps,” he added.
Zeman dismissed the statements by Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico in reaction to the result of the election to the Chamber of Deputies, won by ANO, a movement of food and media mogul Andrej Babis, with almost 30 percent and in which Tomio Okamura, leader of the populist Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD), gained almost 11 percent of the vote.
Fico said Slovakia was becoming a pro-European island of democracy in Central Europe.
“They [Slovaks] seem to be very self-confident. In a way, this is a small nation which needs to bolster its self-confidence,” he added.
