Federalism and secession: recent secessionist tensions in Catalonia and lessons we can learn in Spain from the Canadian Federal experience

Secessionist tensions in Quebec recently put in serious risk the continuity of Canada's territorial integrity. Nevertheless, the clever doctrine of the Canadian Supreme Court was particularly useful in order to resolve this problem. Many lessons may be learned in the European Union from this risky Canadian experience, especially in countries such as Spain, with similar secessionist tensions. The Catalan experience shows many similarities. The so-called 'right to decide', has great expressive force. Behind this idea there is a large dose of political marketing, demagogy and also hidden problems and challenges for modern federalism.