Catalonia VS Spain

Last Tuesday 11 September was a special day in Catalonia, Spain. The Catalans took advantage of the annual Diada holiday in the region to take the street with only one message: "Catalonia: the New European State". This autonomous community of Spain with 7,565,603 population has spent several years fighting for the independence from Spain. In the beginning it seemed just a simple idea that had many Catalans, but now this fight is a reality because of the crisis.

Catalans leaders say that their wealth is being affected by the central government and they complain about paying billions of Euros more in taxes than they receive from the capital, Madrid. Moreover they can’t understand the situation because they have been forced to fire workers and cut services too. The outpouring on Tuesday was a sign that the economic crisis has transformed issues of cultural identity into a mainstream political movement bent on autonomy. More than half of Catalonia’s population favours the independence and his regional president, Artur Mars, has suggested he could seek independence if he is not given more control over tax raised from Catalonia. They have a clear idea; they are going to speak with Mariano Rajoy, Spanish president, to get the Tax Pact because they want that Catalonia Government to control its own tributes.

Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain that borders France and Andorra to the north and the Mediterranean Sea to the east. Catalans speak a language similar to, but distinct from, the Spanish spoken in the rest of Spain. It has produced a strong nationalism feeling in Catalonia and the 50% of the citizens don’t feel themselves as Spanish. Moreover, they consider that their regional government is strong enough and self-sufficient from the central government in Spain, commanded by a conservative party “Partido Popular”. For this reason they consider that the current situation in Spain, that is on the verge of asking the rescue to Germany, is affecting Catalonia negatively because they have to accepted all the political decisions.

Today, his regional president, Artur Mars has met with Spanish president, Mariano Rajoy to deal about the Tax Pact. With this pact they want to be the owners of his regional money and it means manage, collect and liquidate most taxes. However, the government answer has been negative and Mars has announced momentous changes,  include advanced elections in Catalonia.  For the time being the Catalonia future is uncertain, as Spanish’s future. I don’t believe in the independence of Catalonia and I think that most of the Catalans don’t believe in it neither. It’s only a dream, a future image. It’s only it. They know that independence means responsibility to control their own money and no submission to Spains policies, but they know that it has a lot of dangers and that can not be reversed. 

Anyway, the only thing that is clear is that this is another stone that is sinking the Spanish ship.

Elena Trujillo