Two hundred years ago, the crowned heads of Europe came together at the Congress of Vienna. Following the fall of Napoleon the revolutionary genie was finally back in the bottle. The great powers promised to join forces to stamp out any attempt to upset the new order they had sketched out. To that end they established what became known as the "Holy Alliance".

 

This conservative pact could not however prevent the map of Europe from changing drastically. Empires and federations locked horns and everywhere new nations were born. One hundred years ago, half of today's 28 EU Member States were not yet independent. But that does not stop the current European elite from denouncing anything that threatens the political status quo.

 

As long as the rumbling was restricted to the former Eastern Bloc, the European leaders didn't lose any sleep over it. Now that the status quo is under threat in their own Union, however, the alarm bells are ringing. Suddenly, after two hundred years, the Holy Alliance is stirring once more.

 

The Scottish referendum in September already showed the ugly face of that conservative pact. Top European politicians shamelessly sowed fear among the Scottish voters: a "Yes" would lead to expulsion from the EU, the Scots would never get the euro and they could forget the single market.

 

The Scottish spectre may have been banished for a while, but the Holy Alliance now has an even harder nut to crack: Catalonia.

 

When the clock in Camp Nou, the Barcelona FC stadium, reaches 17 minutes and 14 seconds of play in the match against Real Madrid, something magical happens. The cheering for Messi & Co.'s antics stops, and a hundred thousand voices resound in one cry: In-de-pen-den-CIA! For a football stadium crowd to call unanimously for independence means something. That Barcelona's diverse fan base can rally around the issue of independence goes to prove the breadth of the Catalan nationalist project's appeal.

 

The Catalans are a good distance ahead compared with the enormous amount of ground Alex Salmond nearly managed to make up. Madrid is ready to do almost anything to silence the cry from Camp Nou. Legal proceedings, economic boycotts, even sabre rattling, the Catalans have seen it all. If it were any other country, the European Union would be pointing the finger, angrily condemning such practices. But Madrid can always count on the Holy Alliance: Brussels, London and Paris are quietly heaping not-so-European anathemas on Catalonia. 

But European leaders who allow the European Union to be used as a weapon against independence movements are playing with fire. Modern nationalism in Catalonia, Scotland and Flanders is founded on a yearning for more direct democracy and better governance. Who could claim that this is contrary to European values? The pro-European character of these movements could quickly change if their love is unrequited. This is not a happy prospect, particularly at a time when so many Europeans are turning away from the Union. 

"Internal enlargement" does not have to mean the end of Europe. Both the American and the Swiss confederations survived many such internal reorganisations. But the elephant in the room can no longer be ignored. Couldn't a European Union that regulates the length of cucumbers and the curvature of bananas also consider the practicalities of a possible "internal enlargement"? It would provide a civilised and democratic way of channelling the hopeless conflict between Catalonia and Madrid. Time is running out. Otherwise, the Brussels Holy Alliance is heading for the same historical oblivion as its forerunner in Vienna.