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Spain gives Catalan leader eight days to drop independence

October 13, 2017 By administrator

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Wednesday gave the Catalan government eight days to drop an independence bid, failing which he would suspend the Catalonia’s political autonomy and rule the region directly, Reuters reported.

His move could deepen the confrontation between Madrid and the northeastern region but also signals a way out of Spain’s biggest political crisis since a failed military coup in 1981.

Rajoy would probably call a snap regional election after activating Article 155 of the constitution that would allow him to sack the Catalan regional government.

He later told Spain’s parliament the Catalan government had until Monday, October 16 at 0800 GMT to answer.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Catalan, independence, Spain

90% of voters said ‘Yes’ to independence from Spain – Catalan government

October 1, 2017 By administrator

The overwhelming majority of Catalans who participated in the banned referendum have voted in favor of independence from Spain, the Catalan government has announced.

Over two million Catalans, or 90.9 percent of those who voted said ‘Yes’ in Sunday’s referendum, regional authorities said. Only 7,87 percent, or 176,565 voters said ‘No’ when asked if they want to attain independence from Madrid.

What kind of a democracy steals ballot boxes?” asked Vice President Oriol Junqueras, standing next to government representatives, Raul Romeva and Jordi Turull.

“We will be consistent with the democratic mandate that citizens have given us today,” he added. “Catalonia has won its right to be a new Republic, if this is what the Parliament decides.”

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Catalan, government, Spain

Resolution to start secession process submitted to Catalan parliament

October 27, 2015 By administrator

Catalonian President Artur Mas arrives to appear in court . referendum on independence © Albert Gea / Reuters

Catalonian President Artur Mas arrives to appear in court . referendum on independence © Albert Gea / Reuters

Catalan pro-independence parties have submitted a resolution to the regional parliament proposing that Catalonia splits from Spain. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has said that he would block any independence initiatives.

The Junts pel Si (“Together for Yes”) and Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP) hope that the nine point resolution will be adopted in early November, according to El Pais.

The “democratic mandate based on the result of the elections held on September 27, is aimed at creation of independent and sovereign Catalan state…,” the first article reads according to Reuters.
The second article declares the beginning of the state creation process while the third one initiates an “open, inclusive and active constituent civil process aimed at building a foundation for the future Catalan constitution.”

The document calls on the future government to take all necessary measures for the effective implementation of the resolution which could go as far as to directly disobey decisions made by the Spanish central government and the constitutional court which, according to the new Catalan parliamentary president, Carme Forcadell, has been delegitimized.

Junts pel Si and CUP expressed a will to launch negotiations with Spanish authorities concerning the creation a Catalan republic.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy insists that independence referendums as well as other secessionist steps contradict the Spanish constitution and therefore are illegal.
“The state may use any available judicial and political mechanism contained in the constitution and in the laws to defend the sovereignty of the Spanish people and of the general interest of Spain,” Rajoy said in a short TV statement.

“Those who want to divide and split Catalonia from Spain must know that they will not succeed,” he added.

Despite only containing 16 percent of the country’s population, Catalonia is one of Spain’s richest regions, and produces 20 percent of its GDP which makes its population think that the rest of Spain is an economic burden on them. On September, 27, a coalition of secessionist parties won the Catalan parliamentary elections which were accompanied by mass pro-independence rallies.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Catalan, secession, Spain

Defying Spain, Catalans vote on independence

November 8, 2014 By administrator

0,,18012392_401,00Volunteers will administer Catalonia’s independence vote Sunday. It is informal and non-binding, but Catalan activists hope for a huge turnout – which could prompt negotiations with Madrid. From Barcelona, Lauren Frayer.

Huge video screens erected in Barcelona’s streets broadcast archive footage of the Berlin Wall coming down, and of Nelson Mandela toppling South African apartheid – meant to draw associations to Catalans’ own struggle for freedom – as Spain’s northeast region holds a much-disputed vote on whether to secede and form a new country in Europe.

The Catalan capital Barcelona was transformed into a massive pro-independence rally, with fiery speeches, concerts of traditional Catalan folk songs and whole families draped in Catalan flags. A wide central thoroughfare was closed to traffic, where video monitors showed footage of Berlin 25 years go, juxtaposed with images from Catalonia’s own history.

Long fight for autonomy

“I’d rather be a first-class Catalan, than a third-class Spaniard!” says Marc-Ignasi Corral-Baqués, a 49-year-old Catalan doctor who joined the crowds. “The Spanish government doesn’t treat us equally. It doesn’t respect our culture. Bullfights and flamenco are not my culture — that’s Spain, not us.”

Catalans are going to the polls Sunday to answer two questions: “Do you want Catalonia to be a state? If so, do you want that state to be independent?”

With their own language and culture, Catalans have long sought autonomy from the Spanish central government in Madrid. But this marks the first time they’re voting explicitly on the issue, as well as on whether to break away and found an entirely new country. The two-pronged ballot could be used to negotiate a new fiscal pact with Madrid, if not independence.

Difficulties to get voters to the polls

Turnout is critical, if the poll is to truly reflect Catalans’ wishes for the future. But that’s tricky when Madrid has declared the whole process illegal. Even Catalan leaders acknowledge the voting is non-binding, informal and unofficial. They call it a “participatory process,” not a referendum. No political change is mandatory afterward.

“What clinched the Scots’ situation is that you had over 85% participation [in Scotland’s independence referendum in September],” says Enric Ucelay-Da Cal, a historian at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona. “So how are you going to get the people who are not mobilized to vote, when it’s non-binding anyway? This is like, ‘I have better things to do.'”

For three days leading up to Sunday’s poll, volunteers manned a phone bank in downtown Barcelona, going through the phone book and dialing up residents, encouraging them to vote and explaining where they could do so. “The most important thing is that people get the necessary information to decide,” says Maria Medina Roca, a volunteer who phoned hundreds of homes. “And also it’s important to participate, because it’s the only way of letting us know what they feel like, what they want and where we want to go as a society.”

The Catalan regional government recruited volunteers like Maria to administer Sunday’s vote, after Spain’s high court ordered preparations for the vote halted. Volunteers have replaced civil servants, who risked violating Spanish law if they were to staff polling stations themselves. More than 1,300 voting spots are set up across Catalonia, but many are in different schools and government buildings than in regular elections.

While Spain’s government has repeatedly declared the Catalan vote illegal, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy appeared to have little recourse to prevent it, short of using force — which might look bad, in a modern European democracy.

“We would love to have pictures of the Spanish police marching in here to withdraw the ballot boxes,” says Miquel Strubell, a retired university professor and Catalan activist. “But I think Rajoy is shrewd enough to realize that would be disastrous.”

A region divided

Opinion polls show a large majority of Catalans have been in favor of holding this independence vote, despite opposition from Madrid. But they show that Catalan society is roughly divided, 50-50, on whether to break away from Spain.

In a Barcelona office building tucked away from the boisterous pro-independence street rallies, a group of Catalans read out a manifesto against independence, before a handful of TV cameras. “This isn’t a referendum, nor a consultation, nor even the culmination of a so-called ‘participatory process,'” said Joaquim Coll, vice president of Societat Civil Catalana, a Catalan group opposed to Sunday’s vote. He spoke in Catalan. “It’s a mere act of propaganda… and we discourage Catalans from participation or any kind of collaboration in this act.”

Coll accuses the Catalan regional government of using public buildings and taxpayers’ money for a partisan cause that does not reflect the wishes of all Catalans. It’s unclear how many residents of Catalonia share Coll’s point of view. “Sometimes it seems like in Catalonia, there are only people who want independence. But it’s not like this!” says Susana Beltran, another member of the same group, who says she’s felt social pressure to join the pro-independence movement. “The problem is that people who don’t want this are afraid to speak out. They don’t want problems with their friends, with their jobs, in life in general.”

Catalonia has long had its own strong, distinct cultural identity, reinforced through nearly four decades of repression under the Spanish military dictator Francisco Franco, who died in 1975. Under his rule, the Catalan language and holidays were banned.

But only a small minority of Catalans supported the idea of independence until three years ago, when there was a groundswell of pro-independence feeling amid Spain’s economic crisis. Many Catalans believe their wealthy region has been unfairly subsidizing poorer parts of Spain. For many, it is an economic arrangement – not their cultural identity nor history – that fuels separatist sentiment.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Catalan, independence, Spain

Spain, Madrid blocks Catalan independence referendum

April 9, 2014 By administrator

Spanish lawmakers have rejected a request by the northeastern region of Catalonia for permission to hold a referendum for independence. Catalan nationalists say they will still push ahead with a ballot in November.

345930_Catalonia-independence Spain’s Congress has rejected a proposal to allow the region of Catalonia to stage a referendum on independence late on Tuesday (08.04.2014). The vote tightens a standoff between Madrid and the northeastern region which is threatening to become a major political crisis.

Congress debated and voted on a motion which called for it to transfer the power to hold the referendum to the regional government of Catalonia, which is leading the independence campaign. The Catalan government has already scheduled a referendum for November 9.

The overwhelming result was widely anticipated, with 299 votes against and only 47 in favor and one abstention. Spain’s ruling conservative Popular Party (PP) voted against the proposal, along with main opposition Socialist Party and some smaller parties. The United Left, Catalan pro-independence groups and Galician and Basque nationalists backed the motion.

Unconstitutional vote

The Spanish government said the vote supported its argument that a Catalan referendum on independence is impossible because it would violate the constitution. In March, Spain’s Constitutional Court ruled that Catalonia could only stage such a ballot if changes were made to the constitution.

But in the congressional debate Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy also relied on other, less legal, arguments.

“I defend Catalonia remaining part of Spain because I can’t imagine Spain without Catalonia or Catalonia outside Spain,” he said. “It’s a question of emotion, of feeling, of a shared history.”

Rajoy even surprised onlookers by uttering a few words in the Catalan language, as he insisted that the region’s culture was not repressed by Madrid, as nationalists often claim.

But nationalists vowed to push ahead with their bid for a referendum on independence, despite the vote against them.

“It doesn’t all finish here, by any means,” said Artur Mas, the Catalan regional premier who has led the independence campaign, immediately after the vote. “The will of Catalonia cannot be stopped by a vote in Congress.”

Mas had stayed away from the debate, saying he preferred not to give his political opponents in Madrid the “great victory” of watching him lose the resulting vote in the flesh.

His decision seemed to be influenced by a similar independence plan presented to the Spanish Congress in 2005 by Juan Jose Ibarretxe, the then-leader of the Basque region. Ibarretxe suffered a humiliating political defeat when he watched as Congress blocked his proposal.

Spain’s economic powerhouse

With a population of over 7 million, Catalonia has Spain’s largest regional economy. While nationalists see independence as a longstanding historical aim, the recent economic crisis has strained relations between the region and the rest of the country. The Catalan government claims that it pays out too much money to the Spanish state in taxes, effectively subsidising poorer regions.

Thousands of Catalans have demanded the right to vote on independence

The recent independence drive also has political causes. A 2010 decision by Spain’s Constitutional Court to strike down several new powers granted to Catalonia sparked outrage. Last month’s ruling by the same court drew a similar response.

Mas recently warned that he had not ruled out making a unilateral declaration of independence if he had no other alternative. With the Spanish courts and Congress now deeming a Catalan referendum illegal, the region’s leader must decide whether to proceed with the November referendum as planned, without the state’s blessing, or to reconsider.

Fernando Vallespin, a sociologist at Madrid’s Autonoma University, said the only way to defuse the political tension could be to pursue a “new federal settlement” which gave Catalonia increased powers but not full independence. The opposition Socialists have been advocating such a plan, although neither unionists nor separatists have taken it up.

A full independence process, Vallespin said, would be deeply traumatic and difficult to see through.

“You always know how you start a divorce, but you never know how it ends,” Vallespin said. “And it normally ends up creating enormous stress for both parties.”

Source: DW.com

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Catalan, referendum, Spain

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