Tensions have reached crisis point between Catalonia and Spain as security forces have been called in to stop the independence referendum from taking place on Sunday.
The Spanish Government have claimed the referendum of the region in the northwest of Spain is illegal and is desperately trying to stop it.
Now the French Prime Minister has waded into the debate and suggested an independent Catalonia could signal the end of Europe.
Mr Valls said the debate is very important and has called for leaders across Europe to make a statement on the issue and said the consequences of the referendum are even more significant at a time when it is “fragile”.
Talking on French radio, he said: “What Spain, Catalonia and Barcelona represent is too important not to say what we think, with great respect to those opinions, but what happens in Catalonia is too important not to have a strong statement from an European level.”
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He said on the radio channel La Ser: “It means in a certain way the end of what Europe is, which is a federation of nation states.
“If one of these states decides to change its borders, the consequences can be very important at a time where Europe is fragile.”
Mr Valls said he hoped Spain and Catalonia could negotiate and come to a peaceful solution.
The EU has stressed if Catalonia does secure independence then it will no longer be the member of the bloc and would have to apply to re-join.
Catalonia as a region represents a fifth of Spain’s GDP and parts of the population are angry they pay more taxes to the Government than they get in return.
Spanish police have ordered raids on Government offices, which have seen 14 of the region’s officials arrested.
An unprecedented combination of legal action, police deployments and economic sanctions are disrupting the effort to hold the vote which has been declared illegal by Spain’s Constitutional Court.
Madrid has deployed between 3,000 and 4,0000 state police officers from around Spain to the troubled region.
The grandfather of Mr Valls was the editor of a Republican newspaper in Spain.
During the Spanish Civil War he sheltered priests fleeing from the Red Terror and after Franco’s victory he was forced out of his job as editor.