With the Spanish economy in the shitter, secession movements in Catalonia grow larger

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With the Spanish economy in the shitter, secession movements in Catalonia grow larger

Some people in the Spanish state of Catalonia have been arguing for separation from Spain for a long, long time. The region has its own language, its own identity and its own people. But as the Eurozone economic crisis drags on and Spain’s economy still hobbling along, now half of the population of Catalonia supports independence.

“We have no other option, since our will has been totally ignored” says Soledat Balaguer, a member of the secretariat of the Catalan National Assembly, organizers of the demonstration that shut down the city center. “Catalonia needs to be its own state.”

It wasn’t always thus. Unlike the Basque Country, where support for independence from Spain has run high for generations, most Catalans have traditionally favored greater autonomy over outright secession. As late as 2010, a poll conducted by Catalonia’s Center for Opinion Studies found that only 25.2% of the population favored independence. That number had more than doubled in its latest survey, released this week, which found an historic high of 51.1% wanting out of Spain. How to explain the dramatic change?

One factor amplifying pro-independence sentiment in recent years was the Spanish state’s legal challenge to a 2006 statute, approved in a Catalonia-wide referendum, that transferred significant powers to the regional government. When Spain’s highest court declared many of the statute’s provisions unconstitutional, “it outraged Catalans,” says Montserrat Guibernau, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London. “That initiated the change in thinking.”

But the recent surge in secessionist support is closely tied to Spain’s economic crisis. Although Catalonia is the wealthiest region in Spain, it is also the most heavily in debt, running a fiscal deficit of 8%. Two weeks ago, it requested a 5 billion euro bailout from Spain’s central government, a request that prompted the president of the Extremadura region to complain that those funds would come “from the pockets of all Spaniards.” But in the minds of many Catalans, the region was simply asking for its own money to be fairly returned.

Under the current fiscal system, Catalonia collects taxes from its residents, but turns them over to the central government, which then disburses a designated amount to each region to pay for public salaries, social services, infrastructure, and the like. In 2009, the latest year for which figures are available, Catalonia provided 19.49% of federal government’s tax revenue, yet received only 14.03% of the state’s spending. It is that discrepancy, says Catalan president Artur Mas, that explains the region’s deficit. Mas has called for a fiscal reform that would enable his government to collect its own taxes and turn over a designated amount to the central state (rather than the other way around). So potent is the popular sense of injustice that even Mas, whose Convergence I Unió party has never been pro-independence, hinted that his party’s stance may change if it does not achieve the reform it seeks. “If we cannot reach a financial agreement,” he told the BBC today, “the road to freedom for Catalonia is open.”

Also, please Catalonia, open your .cat TLD to the world.

Via