"Catalan Crisis Not Challenge to the EU"

While senior EU lawmakers are warning that the Catalan crisis poses a bigger threat to the European Union than Brexit, Kristian Steinnes, Professor of modern European history with the Department of historical studies at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, does not see it as a potential danger to the EU.

Earlier, the head of the Green fraction in the EU parliament Philippe Lamberts said that the Catalan standoff undermines the spirit of European integration.

Another lawmaker — Esteban Gonzalez Pon from the Spanish Popular Party — warned that the break-up of Spain would spark a domino effect that will spread across the region.

"The UK is a strong military power and its population is ten times bigger than Catalonia's. The Catalan referendum is a way back to the interwar years and, more recently, to 2006, but I don't think this will be a major problem...