The President of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, officially announced that a referendum for the independence of his region from Spain would be held on October 1. This is the umpteenth phase of the duel between Madrid, representing the central Spanish government, and Barcelona, the capital of a very rich region – producing 20% of the whole national GDP – undoubtedly more projected and linked, by an economic point of view, to other European areas than to the country to which it belongs.