The EU will not recognize Catalonia if the regional government presses ahead with a unilateral declaration of independence from Spain, France’s European affairs minister, Nathalie Loiseau said,  The Guardian reported.

“If there were to be a declaration of independence, it would be unilateral, and it would not be recognised,” France’s European affairs minister, Nathalie Loiseau, said.

“Catalonia cannot be defined by the vote organised by the independence movement just over a week ago,” she told CNews television. “This crisis needs to be resolved through dialogue at all levels of Spanish politics.”

Loiseau also repeated the European commission’s warning that an independent Catalonia would find itself outside the European Union and obliged to reapply for membership.

“If independence were to be recognised – which is not something that’s being discussed – the most immediate consequence would be that [Catalonia] automatically left the European Union.