Artur Mas, President of the Spanish region of Catalonia, announced elections in his region on November 25th so that the Catalan people can confirm their trust in him and his policies. However there is much more behind this election, as Catalonia is a region in Spain that has been looking to become an independent state for quite some time now.
On September 11th, the national day of Catalonia, around 2 million out of a possible 7 million people living in Catalonia went to the streets in Catalonia’s capital, Barcelona, waving the “estelada” flag, which symbolizes an independent Catalonia. Protesters also waved banners saying things like “Catalonia, the next state in Europe” or simply “Independence”. Clearly, the spirit of independence is still ripe within this region.
But why do so many Catalans want sovereignty from the rest of Spain? The debate over independence between Spain’s capital, Madrid and Catalonia has existed for centuries, and flares up again during times of economic and political hardship. Right now, as Spain is going through severe economic hardship, the debate has been revitalized due to the Catalan people not being happy with the way in which their taxes are used. Catalonia represents a substantial amount of the Spanish economy, around 20%. This means that around 20% of all Spanish taxes are collected in Catalonia, but not all of them stay in Catalonia. A large part of them go to poorer regions of Spain, and this is the main issue in the eyes of the Catalans, as they want all of their tax money to stay in Catalonia and be used for their own good, as in the end they are the ones that have worked for it. It is generally perceived that Catalonia has to work for the rest of Spain, which is unfair to the Catalans. Today, Catalonia only gets back around 19% to 21% of the tax revenue that they pay to the central government in Madrid; the rest is redistributed to poorer regions.
Up until September 11th, Mas was trying to negotiate a new fiscal plan for Catalonia with the Spanish government in Madrid, albeit unsuccessfully. Xavier Sala-i-Martin, a Catalan economics professor at Columbia University says that „Up until September 11 his strategy was to go to Madrid and ask for a better financial deal or “fiscal pact” as he called it. I guess that the massive demonstrations convinced him that his people no longer want a better financial deal from Spain. They want independence. And he joined the bandwagon… Mas doesn’t lead. He follows.”
Together with these troubles come other problems that Spain is facing because of the current economic and financial crisis. The most important of these issues is lingering unemployment, which is up from 8.6% in 2008 to 16.3% today. Although high, it is still lower than the national average of 25.1%.
Analysts from Deutsche Bank claim that the political problems between Catalonia and Madrid could be a catalyst to Spain officially asking to be bailed out by the European Union.
For now, we must wait for the elections on November 25th in which it is expected that Mas’ party will obtain an absolute majority in the Catalan parliament. A victory for Mas will signify that it is likely that a popular consultation will be done in Catalonia in which the people will be asked if they want sovereignty from Spain. However this popular consultation would be unconstitutional because it would not have approval of the central government in Madrid. Therefore the central government under command of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy can prevent the popular consultation with any means, including force.
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