Courtesy of Mish.
Political and economic tensions are mounting in Spain. No serious economist believes the official budget forecast. Unemployment is near 25%, and tax hikes are about to make matters worse.
Moreover, a proposal from Madrid would force children in Catalonia’s schools to speak Spanish even though the dominant language is Catalan.
Proposal to "Hispanicise" Catalan Students
Please consider Madrid sparks Catalan language debate.
Spain’s government risked inflaming tensions with Catalonia when it said school students from the north-eastern region should be “Hispanicised” by bringing the curriculum under greater central control.
“Our interest is to Hispanicise Catalan students, so they feel as proud to be Spanish as they do to be Catalan,” Mr Wert said in response to a question in Spain’s parliament on Wednesday.
Catalan, which was banned under Franco, has become the dominant language among Catalonia’s 7.6m people, and is deemed a vital underpinning of its sense of nationhood.
The reopening of the debate over central control of language and curriculum in schools comes amid a surge in popular separatist sentiment in Catalonia, with the region’s politicians having declared their intentions to hold a referendum on independence if November elections provide a mandate for one.
A recent poll taken by the Centre for Opinion Studies, an official institute of the Catalan government, indicated that 74 per cent of Catalans wanted a referendum to take place. Some conservative politicians in Spain have called for Madrid to respond by recentralising powers.
Nigel Farage on the Rise of UKIP, the Fall of Europe, and the Parallels for the US
Link is video does not play: Farage on Capital Account
Farage hits the nail squarely on the head. There is virtually no chance the eurozone will stay intact, but German Chancellor Angel Merkel, European Council president Herman Van Rompuy, and European Commission president José Barroso are all willing to destroy Greece, Spain, and anyone and every country who gets in their way….
