ANDORRA LA VELLA (Sputnik) – The European Union is ideally suited to act as an intermediary in the row between Spain and its autonomous region of Catalonia, which held an independence vote on Sunday, Jose Maria Chiquillo Barber, a member of the Spanish delegation to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA) and of the ruling People's Party, told Sputnik Thursday.
Head of Catalan government Carles Puigdemont has asked the European Union to help in the resolution of the crisis. The European Commission called the vote illegal but said it was a domestic matter for Spain.
"The EU must and should be this third party in talks. It is only natural as it is our regional framework," Chiquillo Barber said when asked about possible interlocutors.
According to the lawmaker, the Spanish government was always open for a constructive dialogue inside the legal framework.
"It is possible, if necessary, to request a meditation," he said.
He warned that separatist aspirations and their rise in the Catalan region "will open a door for separatists across Europe affecting other territories like Corsica, Veneto and others."
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has said that Madrid was open to negotiations, but only within the legal framework. However, on Tuesday, Puigdemont told the BBC broadcaster that Catalonia might declare independence in a few days.
