Courtesy of Mish.
Political anxiety is heating up in Spain. In a direct challenge to Spain’s central government the Wall Street Journal reports Catalonia Political Parties Agree to Hold Independence Referendum.
Political leaders in Spain’s wealthy Catalonia region set Nov. 9, 2014 as a date for a referendum on declaring independence from Spain, but the national government immediately said it would move to block such a vote as unconstitutional.
The latest announcement from Catalonia, which has long chafed under what it calls economic and cultural dominance from Madrid, sets Spain’s leading industrial region on a collision course with the central government, with enormous stakes for both sides and an outcome that is difficult to predict.
Catalan regional leader Artur Mas said on Thursday that major political parties had agreed on the wording of a two-part question to be put on a ballot next November. The first part is: “Do you want Catalonia to be a State?” The second part is: “Do you want Catalonia to be an independent State?” Mr. Mas, who had pledged the referendum after elections last year, said the question was “inclusive, and at the same time clear and concrete.” He added that there would be more details in coming days on how the vote would be conducted.
Recent polls indicate that around 80% of Catalonia’s 7.5 million citizens favor a referendum. Some polls show a much narrower majority favoring independence, though how the question is phrased has an important bearing on the results.
Strains have long existed between Madrid and Catalonia, the country’s leading export region, which has a distinctive language and culture.
But the economic crisis that has battered Spain since 2008 has further frayed the relationship, with Catalans complaining they pay much more in taxes than they receive in investments. Some 43 cents of every euro Catalonia pays in taxes doesn’t come home, according to data compiled by the Catalan government. Another factor fueling Catalan discontent was a move by Spanish courts in 2010 to strike down key parts of a statute that would have given more autonomy to Catalonia.
This past Sept. 11, a regional holiday in Catalonia, more than a million pro-independence activists showed their strength by turning out to form a 250-mile human chain running the length of the region.
Activists calling for the independence of Catalonia, currently a region of Spain, take part in a ‘human chain’ during a protest on Wednesday. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Independencia!
Here’s an interesting image from International Business Times.
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