The unanimous decision of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom that the Scottish Parliament does not have the power to call a second independence referendum is being used - not surprisingly - to justify denying the right of Catalans to a referendum, in this case, agreed between Madrid and Barcelona. Yet the truth is that, demagoguery aside, the decision in London and those in Madrid are like night and day and there is something that can be learned from the British courts even when they say no.
Most significantly of all, the UK's Supreme Court does not deny the key fact: a referendum to separate Scotland from Great Britain is perfectly valid, but certain steps must be respected. Most importantly, that it is agreed to, as British prime minister David Cameron and Scottish first minister Alex Salmond did in 2012 for the consultation held in September 2014, which was subsequently ratified by the Westminster parliament. The courts have no say on whether there is an agreement and the decision is limited to a political pact between the two governments. In fact, the situation is not very different from that in Canada after the Clarity Act that allows an independence referendum in Quebec under certain conditions.
At the same time, although the Supreme Court's decision was predictable from the moment it was known how quickly it was going to respond to the request of the Holyrood parliament, the Scottish first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, and her party, the Scottish National Party, will have to accept the setback they have suffered. Pressuring Whitehall, which absolutely refuses that an agreement like the one in 2012 might be possible between the current British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, a Conservative and only in office since October 25th, and Sturgeon. The innumerable problems facing the Tories make it more than certain that Sunak will not budge from his current position, which is in any case similar to that of his two predecessors, Liz Truss and Boris Johnson. Obviously, a lot has changed since 2012, but it is clear that Cameron's decision and courage, as well as his democratic values, have become much more relevant over time.
Sturgeon's reaction, that the Supreme Court's response is valid and the path to independence must be legal, fits perfectly with the existing confidence in Scotland that politics is the way to resolve any disagreements that arise. In line with this, Sturgeon is to propose the upcoming UK general elections as a test of support for the will of Scots to hold an independence referendum, a path that Catalan independence already took in the 2015 parliamentary elections with the Junts pel Sí (Together for Yes) cross-party candidacy and that the then-president Artur Mas proposed as a plebiscite election.
Although the paths of Scotland and Catalonia are different, the goal of both nations is the same. Not only must we Catalans look sympathetically on the movements in Edinburgh, but we should also realize that the steps they take will serve to promote a greater awareness in Europe of the independence processes in a battle that is, in part, shared. Perseverance appears in any case as the essential path to achieve the necessary international recognition and the legitimate claim of the right to self-determination.