The interview of Catalan public television TV3 with Scotland’s former First Minister Alex Salmond, in English with Catalan subtitles:

And some excerpts (transcription by ):

President Juncker who has been more wise for the most part than his predecessor, president Barroso, should be encouraged to believe and to promulgate the view that the European Commission is there for all of the people of Europe. […] The European Commission’s job is to treat all European citizens equally, not to be favourable to state power or to individual governments, but to treat the citizens of Europe according to the European ideal. And if it doesn’t do that, then Europe is lost.

The views of David Cameron, who is half way out of the exit door of Europe, talking about people in cues, is just absurd. […] David Cameron has no influence on people in Scotland, nevermind on people in Catalonia.

What you should expect from international observers, whether sympathetic like me or hostile like David Cameron, is not a support for a “yes” or a “no”, but support for a process by which firstly people in Catalonia are able to decide and secondly, whatever they decide, they are part and accepted as a European democratic family.

I entered politics in 1987 and for many years i was frustrated. I had consternation, I had no apparent way to achieve the ambition I had. But through all these years despite my frustration I went on to the next challenge. […] Now we lost the referendum, but we won the general election and the process goes on. […] I’ve lived through this, I’ve spent 30 years living through frustration, but you have to take it, accept it, consolidate the gains and move on and look for the next opportunity.

We live in liberal democracies where people express themselves non-violently, through a ballot box, and if we ever disregard that means of settling our aspirations then we risk enormous things — so: everyone, Madrid, London, the European Commission, the President of the United States of America, should accept the right of people to decide. […] If 230-240 years ago the founding fathers of America said “oh my godness me, we mustn’t ask for American independence because other people don’t like it”, then they wouldn’t be the United States of America.

Life is full of ironies, in Scotland we had the process without the result, [while] in Catalonia you got the result without the process… (laughs)… so, you must retain your sense of humor about these things.

It’s about like having an elephant in your living room: it’s very difficult to describe the process by which it arrives, but when it does arrive, there is no doubting that it’s there.

See also: 01 02 03 04 05