Czech President Milos Zeman has proposed to hold a referendum of its membership of the European Union.
Spain's acting government on Friday dismissed as "very bad" a Czech proposal to hold a referendum on its membership of the European Union, barely a week after Britain voted to leave the bloc and sparked political and financial upheaval.
"I think it's a very bad idea by the Czech president," acting Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said in response to Czech President Milos Zeman's call for a plebiscite on membership of the EU and of NATO.
Zeman has no power to call a referendum and said he backed his country to remain in both organizations. The Czech government later rejected any suggestion it might hold a referendum on EU membership.
Speaking at news conference with his Argentine counterpart, Garcia-Margallo described European referendums as "high risk adventures," listing a series of EU accords rejected by voters including the Maastricht Treaty by Denmark in 1992 and France's rejection of the European constitution in 2005.
To avoid "temptations" similar to Zeman's idea, the EU had to be very careful in setting out future relations with Britain and create a bloc "much closer to its citizens", he added. Many Britons who voted to leave the EU objected to a lack of control over EU immigration that came with being part of its single market for goods and services, and said they wanted to recover policy powers shifted to European institutions.
Spain, which faces calls for independence among separatists in Catalonia and elsewhere, has sought to head off any notion that the so-called Brexit referendum could enable Scotland, whose voters backed remaining in the EU unlike the much more populous England, to stay in the bloc.
Acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said earlier this week that if the United Kingdom left the EU, Scotland would leave it too. Asked whether an independent Scotland would meet with a different response from Spain's government, Garcia-Margallo said the Scots would need British and UN approval before gaining recognition as a state, and that "then we'll see." "The rest of it is just a midsummer night's dream."
Garcia-Margallo also reiterated that following Brexit, Spain would seek joint sovereignty of Gibraltar, saying that was the "only solution" if the British territory wanted to continue having access to the EU once Britain had left it.
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