Local nationalism could eventually derail the EU

The current crisis in Catalonia is just one of a number of separatist issues being looked on with disfavour and alarm in Europe’s corridors of power, writes John Lloyd    

The struggles for and against independence in the Spanish province of Catalonia are emblematic of the European Union’s present strength and its future weakness.

They also display the weaknesses, present and future, of the two leaders of the contending parties: Mariano Rajoy, the Spanish prime minister and Carles Puigdemont, president of Catalonia.