BRUSSELS/Washington  - European Union leaders hailed Scotland’s rejection of independence on Friday, saying the vote will help strengthen and unite the 28-member bloc.
“I welcome the decision of the Scottish people to maintain the unity of the United Kingdom,” European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso said. “This outcome is good for the united, open and stronger Europe that the European Commission stands for,” Barroso said in a statement.
EU president Herman Van Rompuy said the outcome meant Britain “is and will remain an important member of the European Union to the benefit of all citizens and member states.”
Neither Van Rompuy nor Barroso referred to the “In-Out” referendum on EU membership promised by British premier David Cameron for 2017 but Brussels is watching developments on that count carefully, stressing repeatedly how important the country is to the overall success of the bloc. Barroso, who heads the EU’s executive arm, said it would carry on a “constructive dialogue” with Scotland, which has limited self-rule powers but is now likely to get more, after voters said no to ending the 307-year-old union.
He said the commission welcomed the fact that during the independence debate “the Scottish Government and the Scottish people have repeatedly reaffirmed their European commitment.”
“The European Commission will continue to engage in a constructive dialogue with the Scottish Government, in areas under its responsibility, that are important to Scotland’s future, including jobs and growth, energy, climate change and the environment, and smarter regulation.” Barroso had previously warned Scotland that it would have to reapply for membership of the EU if it became an independent state, and angered Scottish nationalists by saying that the process would likely be difficult.
US President Barack Obama on Friday congratulated Scotland for its “passionate yet peaceful” referendum, and said he welcomed its decision to stay part of the United Kingdom.
“Through debate, discussion, and passionate yet peaceful deliberations, they reminded the world of Scotland’s enormous contributions to the UK and the world, and have spoken in favor of keeping Scotland within the United Kingdom,” Obama said in a statement.
China’s foreign ministry on Friday refused to be drawn on Scotland’s rejection of independence in a historic referendum, even as state media warned of a “tide of secessionism” in the West.
“We have elaborated (our position) many times that the referendum in Scotland falls under the domestic affairs of the United Kingdom, and we have no comment on that,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a regular briefing. China routinely rebukes others who comment on civil unrest within its borders as interfering in the Asian giant’s own “domestic affairs”.
Meanwhile, the Spanish government on Friday also welcomed Scotland’s “No” vote on independence, but Catalans set on breaking away from Spain vowed to push on for their own ballot on self-rule.
Nationalists in the northeastern Catalonia region keenly watched the result from Scotland, knowing a “Yes” result there would fire up their own campaign to hold a vote - a move fiercely opposed by Spain’s central government.
“We are very happy that Scotland is staying with us,” Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said, hailing the result as positive for “the integration of the European Union”. But in Catalonia, supporters of independence were undaunted. Leaders there have pushed ahead this week with their vote plans regardless of the result in Scotland.
“Of course we hoped that Scotland would vote ‘Yes’ and that would catch on to Catalonia, but the point is that they have been able to vote and we have not,” said Josep Maria Garrell, a 55-year-old baker in Arenys de Munt, north of Barcelona.
In 2009 his town became the first Catalan village to stage a symbolic vote on independence.
Catalonia’s regional parliament was due on Friday to pass a new electoral law that its leaders say will authorise them to hold a non-binding “consultation” on independence.
The region’s president Artur Mas then plans to sign a decree formally calling the vote for November 9.
Spain’s national government has vowed to block those steps by appealing to the Constitutional Court. Rajoy has branded the planned vote illegal and vowed to defend the unity of Spain.
Supporters of independence for Catalonia were inspired by the referendum in Scotland, but complained that whereas the British government approved those polls, Madrid was denying Catalans a similar vote.
Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron, despite opposing independence, has promised more powers over tax, spending and welfare to Scotland’s devolved government - and in the wake of the referendum result, extended that offer to the rest of the United Kingdom.
His stance raised envy among pro-independence Catalans. “Scotland has voted and will achieve more autonomy, whereas we are not even being allowed to vote,” said Joan Rabasseda, the mayor of Arenys de Munt. “I would have liked the ‘Yes’ vote to win in Scotland in order to open up a debate at a European level. We will have to hope that debate opens up at least in Catalonia.”
The “No” vote was one less headache for Rajoy as he resists Mas’s campaign while working to consolidate Spain’s recovery from recession.
Scots “have chosen between segregation and integration, between isolation and openness, between stability and uncertainty”, Rajoy said in a recorded video message on Friday.
Mas was due to speak publicly early on Friday afternoon. The leader of Spain’s main opposition Socialist Party, Pedro Sanchez, welcomed the Scottish result.
“In a democracy, taking a decision to stay united is good news,” he told the radio station COPE. “The consultation vote aiming at independence in Catalonia is illegal. What we propose instead is a reform of the constitution,” Sanchez added. “If Rajoy was brave, that’s what he would propose.”
Proud of their distinct Catalan language and culture, many of Catalonia’s 7.5 million inhabitants feel short-changed by the national government in Madrid, which redistributes their taxes.
Catalonia formally adopted the status of a “nation” in 2006 but Spain’s Constitutional Court later overruled that claim.
At the height of Spain’s economic crisis in 2012, Rajoy rejected Mas’s demand to give Catalonia more power to tax and spend. “Perhaps after the ‘No’ vote in Scotland, those in Madrid will realise that it is better to talk and look to agree on a solution,” said Garrell, the baker in Arenys de Munt. “If they block the consultation vote, they will make thousands more people want independence.”