Catalonia independence election: Barcelona exit could hurt Spain's already sluggish economy

"It’s clearly not going to go away," Tilford said of the independence movement, noting  Catalonia is "a net fiscal contributor to much of the country. It pays more in than it gets out."

..."Given Spain’s fragile economic recovery, this is the last thing the country needs," said Simon Tilford, deputy director of the Center for European Reform in London, which studies economic trends in Europe. "If Catalonia leaves Spain, this could be formidable because it is one of the most dynamic bases of the country's economy."