Ombudsman raps EU institutions on Catalonia

The EU has no procedure for how to deal with a region breaking away from a member state, the EU Ombudsman has said, despite the European Commission usually stating that a breakaway region would have to apply for EU membership.

While hopes of independence have been raised in Catalonia and Scotland over the last few years, with some nationalists eager to leave Spain and the United Kingdom respectively, most still want to stay within the European Union.

When asked about what will hap...