SPAIN: A Catalan nationalist MEP has warned against what he called "the Irish Effect" in the Spanish referendum this Sunday on the European Constitution.
While the constitution is likely to be approved by a substantial majority, a low turnout of voters would be seen as a setback to the ratification process throughout the EU.
Mr Ignasi Guardans, a Member of the European Parliament for the Catalan nationalist Convergence and Unity (CIU), who is campaigning for a Yes vote, told The Irish Times he was concerned about the combination of voter apathy and complacency with a "very active" No campaign.
He compared this to the Irish experience in the first referendum on the Nice Treaty. In the case of Spain, however, the concern was not losing the referendum but ensuring there was an "acceptable" turnout of voters.
Mr Guardans said a turnout of more than 40 per cent would be acceptable, but a figure below 40 per cent would not be positive, and if the turnout fell below 30 per cent it would be both "dramatic and traumatic".
As many as a dozen referendums are expected to take place in different member-states, with Spain the first country to vote. The Irish referendum is likely to be held in late October.
The two main nationalist parties or factions in the semi-autonomous region of Catalonia are on opposite sides of the debate. The CIU, which held the reins of power in the region for 23 years until the last election, is calling for a Yes vote.
The Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC: Catalan Republican Left) which shares power at regional level with the Socialist Party and the left-wing environmentalist Catalunya-Els Verds (ICV) is advising voters to reject the constitution.
The ERC's international political secretary, Ms Pilar Dellunde, said her party had long-standing pro-European credentials. But the ERC was voting No because the constitution failed to recognise "stateless nations" like Catalonia and their right to self-determination. Nor did the constitution grant full official status to the Catalan language, "despite the fact that the Catalan language has more speakers than other already official languages".
Ms Dellunde said the ERC wanted Europe to be "more than a mere business market", but moves towards further integration on tax, social policy or some environmental issues could be blocked by the opposition of only one member-state.
Meanwhile, the leader of the ERC, Mr Josep-Lluis Carod Rovira, presented the Sinn Féin president, Mr Gerry Adams, with a Catalan independence flag at a brief ceremony in Barcelona yesterday.
Mr Adams was visiting the Catalan capital to promote the Spanish translation of his latest book, Hope and History.
He declined to comment directly on Sunday's referendum, however.
"Sinn Fein have not taken a decision on the European Constitution. We will be making that decision at our ardfheis," he said.
But he added: "I have lots of reservations about the type of EU that is envisaged in the new constitution. I value the principle of neutrality for Ireland. I am concerned about the militarisation of the European Union. I believe in a Europe of equals where all the states, small and large, have equality of treatment."
Spanish police arrested two suspected members of the armed Basque separatist group ETA in Valencia yesterday, seizing explosives that they planned to use for imminent attacks, the government said.
The operation in the Mediterranean city came hours after authorities published purported letters from ETA's alleged leader in which he ordered operatives to "start killing people as soon as possible".
ETA often stages attacks to coincide with major events, with the EU referendum on Sunday, and rejects the constitution because it does not recognise a Basque nation.
The Ministry of the Interior said the detainees formed part of an ETA terrorist cell that was going to carry out attacks "imminently."