People wave Spanish national flags in a march with the slogan "Enough and let's recover the sensibility" to defend the Spanish constitution and the unity of Spain in Barcelona, Spain, Oct. 8, 2017. (Xinhua/Juan Carlos Rojas)
BRUSSELS, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- Catalan entrepreneurs gathered at the European Parliament (EP) on Tuesday to oppose the separatist movement of the ousted Catalan president Carles Puigdemont.
"Political instability means economic instability," said Carlos Rivadulla, member of the Catalan Entrepreneurs association.
The group's president Joseph Bou said he considers the independence of Catalonia as a "big mistake".
"Catalans must be saved from separatism," said Bou, who qualifies Puigdemont's movement as "selfish and stupid" from an economic point of view.
"If separatist win elections on Dec. 21, this would be a tragedy. There would be a company exodus of thousands of entrepreneurs. For this reason, I think that our workers, which are a numerous fundamental part of our society, are going to be scared about possible delocalization and other issues affecting their working conditions," he told Xinhua.
According to Rivadulla, foreign investments have dropped by 10.2 percent during the second semester whereas they increased by 12.8 percent on a national level. About 2,000 companies have also transferred their headquarters to other regions in Spain, he added.
"For the moment, some of these companies are transferring only the executives but this is for us a clear warning that in the worst scenario they could move completely including the productions," Rivadulla said.
The Barcelona cars dealers association reported last month a sales loss of around 25 to 30 percent. "This crisis is going to affect Catalonia but also Spain," Rivadulla said.
Even as entrepreneurs denounced the Catalan separatist movement, 200 Catalan mayors were protesting against the Spanish central government in Brussels on Tuesday.
