By Ali Alemi

Trump supports the independence of Catalonia

November 4, 2017 - 11:34

TEHRAN _  Although the U.S. State Department has stated in its official position that it is against the independence of Catalonia, this official stance is not consistent with the vast U.S. government's strategy towards the European Union.

The reality is that the president of the United States will welcome any incident and behavior that is taking place in the path of weakening and dividing United Europe. During the U.S. presidential race in 2016, we saw the full support of the nationalist and radical European parties of Donald Trump.

After Trump's victory in the last year's presidential election, he supported an explicit stance on British withdrawal from Europe. Even Trump, in fact, asked other European countries to leave Europe. Although Secretary of State Rex Tillerson tried to guarantee European authorities the support of the White House for Europe, the guarantees were not taken seriously by any European government.

Recently, Donald Trump has urged people in Catalonia to remain “united” with the rest of Spain during his meeting with the country's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy at the White House. The fact is that the president of the United States supports the independence of Catalonia. Trump knows well that Catalonia's independence, on the one hand, will lead to a chronic crisis occurring in Europe and, on the other hand, will lead to other European-style sovereignty modeling in Europe. This will be enough to undermine the European Union and its destruction in the future! Hence, there is a meaningful distance between the practical approach and the US announcement of the independence of Catalonia.

Tramp can not hide his interest in the division of the European Union. The US president's support for the British withdrawal from Europe is a source of anger for EU officials.

As Independent reported, Donald Trump has promised a “very big and exciting” trade deal with the UK after Brexit. In a tweet on Tuesday lunchtime, the US President said his administration was “working on a major trade deal”, adding: "Could be very big & exciting. JOBS!"

He also accused the EU of being “very protectionist” and told the bloc to "STOP!" Trump earlier predicted a “new chapter for stronger trade” between Britain and America. Even though the President has said he wants to see the two countries quickly seal a bilateral trade deal, it often takes years to negotiate tariff and non-tariff barriers in areas such as agriculture and the car industry. The agreement will also require the approval of US Congress.

Trump has suggested that he will only sign trade agreements that he views will benefit American workers and will keep jobs in the U.S. Upon taking office in January, the President abandoned an ambitious multinational trade agreement brokered by his predecessor Barack Obama, the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, and said the US would only form trade deals with individual allies. Mr Trump's upbeat tone in his Tuesday tweet came despite concern in the UK about a potential watering down of food standards in an effort to secure a post-Brexit deal with Washington.

Trump, posting on the official presidential Twitter account, rather than his personal page, said on Monday: "Our special relationship w/ UK is going to be even better. USTradeRep & UK's LiamFox met today to begin new chapter for stronger trade!"

The president of the United States is encouraging other European countries to separate from the European Union. Therefore, the White House's stance towards the independence of Catalonia is also completely false. Washington is one of the main supporters of the independence of Catalonia, and sees it as a step in the path of European integration.

AS Guardian reported, Catalonia’s ousted president and several members of his deposed cabinet fled to Belgium hours before Spain’s attorney general asked for charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds to be brought against them over their decision to declare independence last week.

Shortly after the possible charges were announced on Monday, Spanish media reported that Carles Puigdemont and five of his former ministers had driven to Marseilles and then caught a flight to Brussels. Paul Bekaert told Reuters Puigdemont was considering seeking asylum but it was not certain. “We have not yet decided yet. We have a lot of time to decide,” he said. “We will see in the coming weeks what we are doing.”

There was also speculation that the Catalans could be intending to set up a government in exile. In an apparent reference to Josep Tarradellas, the Catalan leader who lived in exile in Paris during the Franco dictatorship, a spokeswoman for Puigdemont’s Catalan Democratic party said: “We had presidents in this country who were not able to be here during Franco’s time and they were still the president of the Catalan government.”

Over the weekend, Belgium’s immigration minister suggested that Puigdemont could be offered asylum in the country. “It’s not unrealistic, looking at the current situation,” Theo Francken, a member of the Flemish separatist N-VA party, told the Flemish-language broadcaster VTM on Saturday.
“Looking at the repression by Madrid and the jail sentences that are being proposed, the question can be asked whether he still has the chance for an honest court hearing.”

Belgium’s prime minister, Charles Michel, later clarified that an asylum request from Puigdemont was “absolutely not on the agenda”. Spain’s prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, took the unprecedented step last Friday of using article 155 of the constitution to sack Puigdemont and his government and impose direct rule on Catalonia after the regional parliament voted to declare independence.

Also Express reported that THE CATALAN government are the “only legitimate rulers of Catalonia” and will not accept dismissal, a pro-independence politician has revealed on News night.

Alfred Bosch, Barcelona City Council Republican leader, claimed half of the Catalan government was still in Barcelona and went to work as usual yesterday despite President Carles Puigdemont fleeing to Belgium. Members of the Catalan government travelled to Belgium after threats of prosecution from Spain’s central government. Madrid has accused the region’s executive of treason following its unilateral declaration of independence.

Catalonia’s President declared the region free of Spanish rule after a violent police crackdown on a referendum branded illegal by the central government. Mr Bosch of the Republican pro-Independence Party spoke on News night to defiantly reject Spain’s move. He said: “Please remind the whole world that there is half of the government in Belgium and the other hand of the Catalan government that is here in Barcelona right now.

Finally, the crisis in Catalonia seems to be continuing. This crisis will not be solved soon. Meanwhile, Spanish and European authorities need to take care of the secret US support for separating Catalonia...

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