A child wearing a Catalan flag on his back

Politics

الحفاظ على إسبانيا

Sep 30, 2017 Ana Palacio

مدريد ــ لا شيء قد يُخرِج الأصدقاء المهتمين بأمرك من مخابئهم مثل الأزمة. من المؤكد أن هذه كانت الحال مع الوضع الحالي في إسبانيا، حيث دعت كتالونيا إلى إجراء استفتاء على الاستقلال في الأول من أكتوبر/تشرين الأول. وبين رسائل الدعم العديدة التي تلقيتها في الأسابيع الأخيرة، وصلتني بعض الاستفسارات حول السبب الذي يمنع إسبانيا من السماح بعقد الاستفتاء ببساطة. ولكن هذا ليس خيارا واردا.

أثارت الصحافة الدولية فكرة أن كتالونيا ينبغي لها أن تكون قادرة على عقد استفتائها، بموجب مبدأ "حق اتخاذ القرار"، بل إن هذه الفكرة اكتسبت بعض الثِقَل بين بعض شرائح المجتمع الإسباني. وقد استشهد كثيرون بالقرار الذي اتخذه رئيس الوزراء البريطاني السابق ديفيد كاميرون بالسماح بإجراء استفتاء اسكتلندا على الاستقلال في عام 2014.

بيد أن هذه العملية غير قانونية بموجب دستور 1978 الإسباني. كان هذا الدستور يمثل انتقال البلاد من الدكتاتورية إلى الديمقراطية وهو يوفر الإطار لنظام سيادة القانون في إسبانيا. وكما ينص الدستور صراحة فإنه "يقوم على وحدة الأمة الإسبانية غير القابلة للفسخ"، مع انتماء السيادة إلى "الشعب الإسباني".

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0 Comments on this paragraph, 19 Comments on this article

Andrew Cole Oct 9, 2017

"obligated to maintain at least the same level of fiscal transfers as before"
The problem with the Eurozone is that Greater Germany is not obligated to make the level of transfer payments necessary for Eurozone stability, causing internal deflation and mass unemployment in the South, of which Catolonia was paying a disproportionate share. Freezing their budget contribution to the EU "creditor union" when the settlement is fundamentally flawed does not solve the problem of how to dislodge the iron grip of supremacist Germany, its greed, and its racial stereotyping to other peoples to justify it, any more than it provides a democratic means of setting such a solution. Sorry but as a Brit I am horrified that my government might be frozen in to paying Germany, Holland etc to humiliate and wreck Southern Europe. NO party in the UK would even dream of doing the sadistic thing Germany did to Greece - not UKIP, not the conservatives, Labour, Liberals, SNP... !
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Marc Torras Oct 4, 2017

I am catalan but try to keep a cold head and read all opinions, but this is a terribly biased article, with a lot of points that do not sustain themselves.
Other readers have already commented, I only want to make a point: the catalan problem was solved in 2006. Catalan government spent years negotiating new conditions with Spain (a new "estatut"). After a lot of negotiation, the estatut was finally approved by the catalan parliament. It was then approved by the spanish parliament too. But then the PP decided the approved estatut was not legal, began campaigning against it and sued to the constitutional court which, by the way, had been hand picked by them some monthes before. The estatut was declared not legal, and scrapped.
So the PP judicialized a political problem, that had already been solved. That episode planted a seed in many catalans that has been watered by catalan nationalists and the PP.
When the estatut was approved, less than 15% of catalans wanted indepence from Spain. Now, around 60% want it.
Result, political playing from both sides has broken our society, now people from both sides are crazy and can not talk anymore, and this can end badly.
Myopic articles like this do certainly not help to mend the situation or bring both sides closer. Ana Palacio should know better.
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P. Kamath Oct 3, 2017

señora respetada: Do you forget Spanish history? Spaniards have resisted , fought and died for a cause they considered right. That included oppressors- Moors, Napleon and Generellimo Franco!

If police action is unleashed against Catalonians without resorting to peaceful means etc. They may start a backlash and the first step of rebellion.

Spanish govt should study what happened in N. Ireland, Sri Lanka and province of Quebec in Canada! Sepation Fever assumed rabid manifestation there, but their reasonable demands were met. Now, even if they were asked to pack up and get out they won't leave!

Win over enemies and turn them into friends, then problems get resolved in most cases!
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Andrés Galia Oct 2, 2017

Creo que Ana Palacios recibió lo que se merecía a través de las respuestas de los lectores. Lo que debería preguntarse es porqué los catalanes se quieren separar de España, pero por supuesto no se lo pregunta porque la respuesta es muy "inconveniente" para su visión neo-liberal del mundo.
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simon noble Oct 1, 2017

Neatly logical but ignores the 800lb gorilla in the room: how do you separatism back into its box simply by telling it that it isn't in the rule book?
Palacios says "there is work to do" making central government felt in the regions but how exactly without clashing with the regional governments?

She is inadvertently getting at part of the problem. Government in Spain and in many countries in the EU has become less accountable. Too many layers exist between the centre and the voter. The EU adds an even more unaccountable layer in top. Someone told me the spanish voter is 7 times removed from Brussels. Add in the corruption across Spain and the recession and you have part of the cause if the problems.

Palacios also ignores the obvious problem with Spain's compromise on regionality. There are 22 "autonomous regions". One suspects that so many exist as a way to try to blend Basque and Cataluña in. But once in existence and with their powers, increasingly the center loses relevance and you get tussles over where its right to intervene and overrule begin and end. One solution to C is to give it Basque style devolution but at what point does the country become so fragmented that you might as well just let those who want out leave? Does Spain really gain anything by keeping malcontents inside? If you have what is in effect a federation, can you really tell one its members that they cant un-federate?

Lastly, beware of the dogged reliance on written documents. On that basis Gibraltar is a closed issue. Does Ceuta have a treaty status? There was no constitutional provision for Scexit or Quebec but in both cases the centre decided that it was better to ask and trust to its case than to add to the "grievances". Rajoy missed the chance to do this years ago when he could have been certain of a solid victory. He could still dvdidi and conquer by reviving the autonomy package he binned when he came to power. Instead he sends in the police.

Spain has its own distinct problem. If C manages to wriggle loose that will be noticed but it will not threaten "democracy " elsewhere. rather it will focus countries on what they offer their citizens and how to improve that.
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Jaap Bosma Oct 1, 2017

How much hypocrisy!
1) it's perfectly possible for Spain without Catalonia to be democratic - secession is not an attack on democracy
2) the concern for "added momentum to the wave of ethno-nationalism and nativism" is besides the point. Catalonian independence is mainly supported by left-wing parties, and not by the populist right - this is something different
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Jose Gines Mora Oct 1, 2017

Of course it is illegal...like the independence of America, Mexico, Argentina....and most independences in the history. Illegal like the French, Russian, Chinese revolutions...and most revolutions. In fact, most of the great changes along the human history have been "illegal", that is, against the dominant legality. The simplicity of Spanish politicians, like this lady, explains well what is happening in Catalonia.
- Ariel Tejera Oct 2, 2017
  
  Let's not forget that the crisis of 2008 was devastating for the whole of the Spanish territories, grouping that country, at the moment, with Greece and Ireland, as the "south" European macro economic failures. Spain, the largest, has been successfully recovering in the last years, but its society has changed forever, and the expectation of a fully "first world life" has evaporated, for many.
  
  It is also a fact that Catalonia is its richer and more developed region, and it's just logical for its constituents to try to make their own macroeconomic errors, by themselves. Which is precisely something that the central government will never accept.
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Steve Hurst Oct 1, 2017

Tell me Ana, in what way do you feel it is a appropriate for a government to use riot police and batons against peaceable citizens wish to voice an opinion. The Spanish government will not win this argument, they are simply falling into the trap Ghandi set for the British in India, the beating up of unarmed peaceable citizens. What is so outstanding is when advocates of democracy find democratic outcomes do not fit their agenda as incumbents holding power, democracy is immediately suppressed.
- P. Kamath Oct 2, 2017
  
  Dear SH:
  BTW, It is Gandhi and not Ghandi! He rejected violence at any cost and loved the English but rejected the immoral system of ruling over others without their consent. He strongly believed that using the right means is as important as the end itself.
  
  Will Catalonians see anything worth in that kind of argument?
  - Steve Hurst Oct 2, 2017
    
    Apologies Pundalik, typo. If Catalonians stand in line and are clubbed by establishment thugs then just like India they have won the argument and made the establishment look Fascist. Gandhi's genius was managing to persuade mass peaceful protest in the face of violence. With the best will in the world if somebody struck me or a family member with a baton when all I was doing was queueing I would find it hard not to strike back. Perhaps it is the difference between Western and Eastern culture and composure. BTW shipping in police from outside the area and therefore without immediate community ties is a well known device in 'crowd control'. If this event was taking place anywhere other than in Spain I would expect to see Ana Palacio on her soapbox shouting how bad it all was, how undemocratic, etc etc. There is something in the DNA of Federalists which is deeply disturbing and at its heart Federalism is based on crowd control. All we have seen so far is it is far easier to control a region via debt (Greece) than by the ballot box. The ballot box is the last line of defence against Federalism.
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Jose Lazaro Oct 1, 2017

Defending the Constitution starts by respecting it and the institutions derived from its mandate. For years the two main parties in Spain have done just the opposite with the intent not only of perpetuating themselves in the power in order to implement the neoliberal agenda but what is even worse in order to create the appropriate ecosystem for extending a criminal "modus vivendi" across all the structures of the state and the justice system in order to transfer wealth from the working class to few families most of them linked to the old regime. Reading Mrs. Palacios is always worth since she is one of the most valid opinions and better prepared persons in Spanish & European politics and her points above are all valid. However she cannot pretend, now, in 2017, that her party or this Spanish Government care at all about the Constitution...
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Steve Hurst Sep 30, 2017

'It is almost universally felt that when we call a country democratic we are praising it; consequently, the defenders of every kind of regime claim that it is a democracy, and fear that they might have to stop using the word if it were tied down to any one meaning'. George Orwell
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Sasa Zrilic Sep 30, 2017

Dear Anna

Where were you 1990 during Yugoslavia disaster? Welcome to the desert of real.
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jagjeet sinha Sep 30, 2017

THE FLOOD OF SECESSIONIST MIGRATION
Brussels has been articulating Punishments for Greece and Britain.
Brussels has been publishing maps of Britain - broken up into Six Regions.
Brussels can now stoke the secession movements across Europe.
Catalonia today, Lombardy tomorrow, Bavaria thereafter, Flanders finally.
Of course Berlin perhaps waiting to administer Transfer Union payments.
To all the secessionist movements - when they successfully separate.
Instead of One Yugoslavia, now we have Seven Yugoslavias.
Instead of One Spain, soon there will be Seven Spains.
Unfortunately, the endless migration that will follow - will have nowhere to go.
The One Island of The Anglosphere has bolted-Brexit ends the default destination.
France perhaps can step in Britain's shoes - by hosting the Secessionist Flood.
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stephan Edwards Sep 30, 2017

Ah European hypocrisy how...............unsurprising. It is perfectly fine to encourage Scotland to vote for independence by promising them EU membership the Sun the Stars and the Moon. Or to say that that Gibraltar is a Spanish concern and the EU will defer to Spanish concerns never mind Gibraltar has belonged to the UK for 3 hundred years. But Catalonia is an indissoluble part of Spain and not entitled to vote on the issue that is only for the UK heretics from the EU. The hypocrisy of the EU is breathtaking.
- jorma saloniemi Oct 3, 2017
  
  I am sorry that you know so little about catalans. Origin of catalan language is in latin. Catalans and the catalan language have existed hundreds of years. Catalonia had a good autonomy for few years in the early years of the spanish royal republic. But the autonomy has been largely restricted afterwards.. Catalans are are not happy to pay a lot of taxes to central government, which has art to use them for senseless purposes. Autonomy of Catalonia must be increased heavily.
  
  Spain is very multicultural and multilingual country. You should understand that. It's not only question of basques and catalans. Madrid and golden beaches are not Spain.
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- edel r Sep 30, 2017
  
  Stephan, I am sure the EU has some faults of those you mentioned, but not those you describe.
  
  First, Scotland and London agreed both for the referendum. So no comparison with Catalonia where one of the parties disagree.
  
  Second, Gibraltar is UK's, no one doubts that, not even Spain. But the cession to UK was given under certain rules that are written in the Treaty of Utrecht. On it UK has some rules about Gibraltar that UK has to consult with Spain; likewise, Spain has some obligations to Gibraltar. That it is 3 centuries old does not matter, the treaty still in place like UK has other older laws still effective.
  
  Third, Catalonia can get its independence, but there is a legal framework to do so. The current Spanish constitution was approved by 92% of Catalans (68% participation rate). The other major Spanish party had multiple times be willing to reform the constitution to accommodate Basques and Catalans, however if some of the nationalists start resorting to violence o ad-hoc illegal referendums they are only undermining they own cause.
  
  Rajoy is involved in a corrupted and unimaginative legislature, but thanks to the failed Catalan referendum in 2014, he got reelected in 2015. With this other attempt he will win the next one too. Rajoy is inept, but is a much clever political strategist that his Catalan counterpart.
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