Spain is no Yugoslavia, Vojvodina is no Catalonia - expert

Florian Bieber, a Balkan expert at the University of Graz, Austria, has compared the banned referendum on Catalonia's independence to "several Balkan cases."

Tanjug is reporting that he "specified" that "Spain is not Yugoslavia, nor is Catalonia Slovenia or Croatia - just as Istria (Croatian region), Vojvodina (Serbian province), or the Serb Republic (Serb entity in Bosnia) are not Catalonia."

In a statement for Radio Free Europe's Bosnia and Herzegovina-Serbia-Montenegro service, Bieber pointed out that the reasons, dynamics and political processes that have led to the creation of independence movements are "specific" - but the successes, he said, are attributed to "independence groups" - and defeats "to states."

According to him, "the only key difference between Kosovo and Catalonia is violence."

Despite the fierce police response on Sunday, the Catalan...