As any of its gazillion visitors will know, Barcelona is full of flags: Catalan ones, red and yellow, hanging from every window. A few years ago Catalonia held a pseudo-referendum on independence (which was pseudo-won). Scotland and Quebec have each had multiple real referendums. Apparently all three countries will keep voting every decade or two until, one day, the separatists get their way.

This is a silly situation. In Catalonia, as in Quebec and Scotland, the sensible majority does not want full sovereignty, which means paying for armies and embassies and bureaucracies in the name of an abstract principle. But it is not looking for perks either. Extreme decentralization (Spain), full linguistic equality (Canada) or advantageous tax arrangements (the UK) will never be enough. Because what Catalans and Quebeckers and Scots really want is simple: recognition that their nations are equal among others. Unfortunately, since the 19th century that means having a state.

The solution is therefore clear. The international community must create, by means of a UN treaty, a new status of confederation. The accession requirement would be a UN-certified set of rights for confederation members, including taxation. Crucially, membership of confederations would be voluntary and provisional, carrying the right of full secession. Existing and aspiring regions could apply for the status, and accepted members would be represented in relevant UN bodies.

At last the combustible bond between nations and states would be weakened. An internationally respected alternative to traditional statehood would emerge, allowing nations to assert their dignity as siblings rather than children. Traditional unitary (and federal) states could continue to prosper, and inspire allegiance. But in other cases identities might be recognized for what they are: multiple, not binary. In extreme cases civil wars might be averted. At the very least the Catalans of Barcelona might at last put away their flags.