While Madrid have now apologised for the violent scenes on Sunday, which saw hundreds injured by police trying to enforce a Spanish out ban on the vote, which they claimed was “illegal”.
Brussels warned Catalonia risks “abandoning the European Union” by splitting from Spain, as the bloc scrambles to avoid a Catalexit which would see the bloc disintegrate further after an already-chaotic 18 months.
A spokesman for the European People’s Party, the largest group inside the European Parliament, said Catalonia needed to acknowledge the “truth”.
He said: “Someone needs to tell the Catalan people the truth.
“If you contest the law to abandon Spain you also need to know that you abandon the EU.”
Discussing the lack of intervention from Brussels on the BBC’s Daily Politics, Spanish MEP and member of the European People’s Party Antonio Lopez-Isturiz was invited onto the programme.
He said: “How can the EU accept that democracy is beaten on the streets? That it is beaten by democracy, the rule of law and the constitution, which is our continental legal system.
“We can not allow this, this could be a very bad example for the rest of the European countries which also have some of these problems.
“Let me tell you Spain is a democracy since 40 years ago. I was born and raised in this democracy, I want this to succeed and that there is a common understanding between all the regions in Spain.”
However, host Anushka Asthana took issue with his comments and slapped down the Spanish MEP’s outlook on democracy.
She blast: “Illegal or not, destroying ballot boxes, arresting officials, suspending parliament, that doesn’t sound like a democracy to us!”
Mr Lopez-Isturiz replied: “Democracy, as I remember, maybe someone can tell me something different, speaks in elections.
“There have been 35 elections in Catalonia since Franco died in the Spanish democracy.
“The Catalan people have always spoken in those elections, they were the first ones to adopt the Spanish constitution with an absolute majority.”
Asthana concluded: “If you are so confident it is against the will of the Catalans, why don’t you allow a vote to go ahead which could be a legal vote?”