EU leader says no support for Catalonian state

BARCELONA, Spain — The head of the European Parliament warns that if Catalonia declares its independence from Spain, “nobody in the European Union” would recognize it as a sovereign state.

Antonio Tajani also says he has no intention of meeting with Catalonia’s leader, Carles Puigdemont, or mediating in the crisis in Spain over a push in Catalonia for independence. Tajani is calling the secessionist dispute an “an internal Spanish matter.”

Speaking Thursday at an EU summit in Brussels, Tajani responds to a question about why he hasn’t yet met with Puigdemont by saying he considers only the Spanish government as a “legitimate” representative in the matter.

He says that Catalonia’s government “has violated the rules of the Spanish constitution and has also violated the rules of Catalan autonomy.”

— AP