Ludicrous: Barcelona fined by UEFA for Catalonia independence fan banners on Champions League Final

Some Barcelona fans were singing and putting up banners for the independence of Catalonia during the UEFA Champions League Final last June. Now, the club has been punished for it.

On Thursday, UEFA fined the Catalan club €30,000 in response to the actions of those fans. The Blaugrana are the symbol of the pride and desire of separation from the rest of Spain for most of the people from that territory, and singing against Spain and for the independence is a religion at Camp Nou games.

According to UEFA, it's prohibited to use gestures and/or banners that support political and religious causes in competitions organized by the institution.

But the Catalan giants are planning to question the ruling, according to an official press release on the same day:

FC Barcelona respects UEFA’s decision that was relayed to the Club on Thursday in relation to the Champions League final in Berlin, however, it does not agree with that decision, especially in the light of the UEFA delegate’s description of the Barça members and fans’ behaviour as excellent, both before, during and after the game, as stated in their report.

With the aim of defending the rights of the Club and its members and while respecting current legislation, the Club’s legal services will consider the possibility of questioning the fine announced today, Thursday. Our conviction is that the rights of the Club and members are not incompatible with current legislation.

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Barcelona council removes bust of former king of Spain from city hall

Barcelona's new  mayor removed a bust of former King Juan Carlos from the town hall. The highly political gesture reflects increasing differences between Spain's national government in Madrid and Catalonia, whose capital is the city of Barcelona.

Mayor Ada Colau removed the bust Thursday, saying the law stipulates there should be an image of the head of state in the chamber and Juan Carlos no longer holds that position.

Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria countered Friday that if Barcelona needed an image of new King Felipe VI — Juan Carlos' son— the government will gladly provide one. A unionist councillor, son of a Francoist militant, tried to substitute the bust for a frame without success. 

The likeness came down on the same day that Felipe, Juan Carlos son, warned that the push for secession could not take precedence over the law. An alliance of pro independence politicians, led by the Catalan president, Artur Mas, have said they are ready to declare unilateral independence from Spain if they win a majority in the regional elections at the end of September, 27th.

In his most pointed remarks on the issue to date, Spain’s king said: “Public authorities are subject to the rule of law, and it is by respecting it that they guarantee orderly functioning of the state.”He stopped short of referring to Catalonia or the push for independence, but the remarks were made at an address in Barcelona at which Mas was present.

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Catalan parties and civil groups make election alliance for independence

Parties seeking independence for Catalonia have forged an alliance for September 27th regional elections that they hope will boost their drive to break away from Spain. The meeting on July 14th was successful to find such an agreement.

Leaders of the centre-right CDC (Democratic Convergence of Catalonia) party and left-wing ERC (Catalonia's Republican Left) sealed a pact at a meeting on Tuesday, agreeing to run on a joint ticket on September 27. Moreover, the two biggest civical entities for indepence will be inside the ticket too. The Catalan National Assembly and Òmnium Cultural were present in the meeting too.

Spain's conservative national government fiercely opposes independence for the rich northeastern region, which wants to follow Scotland's example by voting on its political future.

The parties want the regional election to serve as a de facto referendum by running on a joint ticket, campaigning on the single issue of independence. They agreed that if they jointly win a majority, they will form a coalition government led by current regional president Artur Mas that will aim to achieve independence within 18 months.

Both parties agreed to let a Leftist Green politician (Raül Romeva) and two leaders of pro-independence civil groups head the electoral list to push the independence agenda forward.

The CDC currently governs Catalonia, a region with numerous pro- and anti-independence parties, but it split in June from its longtime coalition partner UDC in disagreement over the path to sovereignty. The pro independence faction of UDC broke with the party as well and founded a new one called Democrats of Catalonia. It is expected that this new group will support the "unity list" as well as the Spanish socialist party split called "Més" (in Catalan for "More").

The far left CUP, also pro independence, announced that they will run alone.

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Spanish PM Rajoy : Catalans and Spaniards "share the same blood"

Spain's Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, stated in Brussels that "Spain is the oldest nation in Europe" and that "the Catalan people and the rest of Spaniards have mixed themselves and share the same blood and all sorts of relations". He sent this message on Thursday when he was asked whether he will participate in the Spanish Parliament's debate on transferring referendum powers to the Catalan Government using Article 150.2 of the Constitution. The debate is scheduled for the 8th of April following a formal petition of the Catalan Parliament. Rajoy refused to disclose whether he will participate in the debate or not. However, he insisted that the Partido Popular (PP, People's Party) – which runs the Spanish Government  – will defend "common sense". What it means common sense for a racist who speaks about "same blood"?. "It is not important who will talk", "but the message and our stance is very clear: [Catalonia's self-determination] aims to deny all Spaniards such a fundamental right as deciding how they want their country to be like", he said.

"We can be proud of the last 50 years", stated Rajoy. "Spain is a country that, in the last 50 years, is among the planet's 5 countries that have the most increased income per capita", he added. "Spain is the oldest nation in Europe, we have done many things together along our history, even though some of them maybe were not good", carried on Rajoy."The Catalan people and the rest of Spaniards have mixed themselves and share the same blood and all sorts of relations", he said. "Therefore we believe we have a future in a world that shares greater integration and union", highlighted the Spanish PM.

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