BARCELONA, SPAIN — It has been five months since Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero made the highly controversial move of having the independence-minded region of Catalonia declared a "nation." The result this week has been turmoil for the region's once-proud separatist movement.Today, Catalan citizens will vote in a regional election that will select among increasingly fractured separatist parties. Their leaders have been at a loss since citizens voted in June in favour of the autonomy statute, a Spanish-government package that gives the region stronger powers over taxation, public spending and language education, and provides it more representation in the European Union, while declaring it a nation within the Spanish state.
In Canada, the idea of declaring Quebec a "nation" -- as called for by delegates to a meeting of the federal Liberals' Quebec wing two weeks ago -- has caused outrage in federalist circles. Here in the Catalan capital of Barcelona, a similar move seems to have turned the majority of voters away from a passionate embrace of separatism. Some say it has defused the nationalist movement.
While the people of Catalonia are proud of their distinct language and do not generally consider themselves Spanish, support for a national-separation referendum collapsed once the statute was passed. In the past week, the leading parties have fallen into angry disputes over whether their leaders are sufficiently ethnically pure and whether immigrants should be tested on their knowledge of the Catalan language and customs, while voters say that the issues that matter to them, like the high cost of housing, are being ignored in the furor over nationalism.
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"We are really tired of this nationalism being the only thing happening in politics here, and I think it's time to break away and talk about real issues," said Albert Rivera, a 27-year-old Barcelona lawyer who posted naked photographs of himself on the city walls to draw attention to his new Citizens Party, devoted to "anything but nationalism," which is expected to win several parliamentary seats in a reflection of general disgruntlement with the endless struggle for independence.
Within Spain, the autonomy bill was angrily resisted by conservative opponents to Mr. Zapatero's Socialist Party government, who saw it as a surrender of Spanish national unity. They were especially offended by the preamble to the bill, which noted that "the Parliament of Catalonia has defined Catalonia as a nation by an ample majority" and that the Spanish constitution now recognizes "the national reality of Catalonia as a nationality."
While that language falls short of actually declaring Catalonia an independent state capable of being represented in the United Nations, for example, it did seem to satisfy the ambitions of many Catalans.
"The passing of the statute has created a vacuum," said John Barrass, the editor of a Barcelona-based newsletter devoted to Catalan politics. "The sovereignty claim has been reduced to a platitude. It's neutralized the nationalistic movement because it has satisfied the basic desire of the people, who I think are pretty practical-minded. So the parties are scrambling for any issues other than nationalism."
In particular, the statute addressed what many Catalans called the "fiscal deficit," or the imbalance between the large amounts of tax money collected by Spain from Catalonia, which is Spain's leading industrial region, and the smaller amounts spent by the Madrid-based central government on the region. The new statute guarantees that the majority of Catalan tax revenues will be spent in Catalonia. It also establishes a Catalan police force and gives the region greater powers over immigration and language law.
Some separatist parties were angered by the statute, which retains Madrid-appointed courts in Catalonia and fails to fully declare Catalonia a legal nation. But the statute was very popular among Catalan voters, so most parties backed it.
The resulting election campaign has brought out the worst in a separatist movement that has suddenly been stripped of its central issue. While it seems clear that a coalition of nominally separatist parties will take power as a result of the election -- as they held power before it -- interviews with officials from the major parties yesterday revealed that full national sovereignty is not part of the immediate agendas of any of them.
Leaders of separatist parties acknowledged yesterday that the separate Catalan nation is a less likely proposition now that the word "nation" has been applied to Catalonia in Spanish law.
"Catalonia is not a country that has a huge majority in favour of independence," said Josep Lluis Carod Rovira, a senior official with the Republican Movement of Catalonia party. "Most people seemed satisfied with the autonomy statute. . . . Independence is going to have to wait."
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In Canada, the idea of declaring Quebec a "nation" -- as called for by delegates to a meeting of the federal Liberals' Quebec wing two weeks ago -- has caused outrage in federalist circles. Here in the Catalan capital of Barcelona, a similar move seems to have turned the majority of voters away from a passionate embrace of separatism. Some say it has defused the nationalist movement.
While the people of Catalonia are proud of their distinct language and do not generally consider themselves Spanish, support for a national-separation referendum collapsed once the statute was passed. In the past week, the leading parties have fallen into angry disputes over whether their leaders are sufficiently ethnically pure and whether immigrants should be tested on their knowledge of the Catalan language and customs, while voters say that the issues that matter to them, like the high cost of housing, are being ignored in the furor over nationalism.
Related to this article
Latest Comments
Follow this writer
"We are really tired of this nationalism being the only thing happening in politics here, and I think it's time to break away and talk about real issues," said Albert Rivera, a 27-year-old Barcelona lawyer who posted naked photographs of himself on the city walls to draw attention to his new Citizens Party, devoted to "anything but nationalism," which is expected to win several parliamentary seats in a reflection of general disgruntlement with the endless struggle for independence.
Within Spain, the autonomy bill was angrily resisted by conservative opponents to Mr. Zapatero's Socialist Party government, who saw it as a surrender of Spanish national unity. They were especially offended by the preamble to the bill, which noted that "the Parliament of Catalonia has defined Catalonia as a nation by an ample majority" and that the Spanish constitution now recognizes "the national reality of Catalonia as a nationality."
While that language falls short of actually declaring Catalonia an independent state capable of being represented in the United Nations, for example, it did seem to satisfy the ambitions of many Catalans.
"The passing of the statute has created a vacuum," said John Barrass, the editor of a Barcelona-based newsletter devoted to Catalan politics. "The sovereignty claim has been reduced to a platitude. It's neutralized the nationalistic movement because it has satisfied the basic desire of the people, who I think are pretty practical-minded. So the parties are scrambling for any issues other than nationalism."
In particular, the statute addressed what many Catalans called the "fiscal deficit," or the imbalance between the large amounts of tax money collected by Spain from Catalonia, which is Spain's leading industrial region, and the smaller amounts spent by the Madrid-based central government on the region. The new statute guarantees that the majority of Catalan tax revenues will be spent in Catalonia. It also establishes a Catalan police force and gives the region greater powers over immigration and language law.
Some separatist parties were angered by the statute, which retains Madrid-appointed courts in Catalonia and fails to fully declare Catalonia a legal nation. But the statute was very popular among Catalan voters, so most parties backed it.
The resulting election campaign has brought out the worst in a separatist movement that has suddenly been stripped of its central issue. While it seems clear that a coalition of nominally separatist parties will take power as a result of the election -- as they held power before it -- interviews with officials from the major parties yesterday revealed that full national sovereignty is not part of the immediate agendas of any of them.
Leaders of separatist parties acknowledged yesterday that the separate Catalan nation is a less likely proposition now that the word "nation" has been applied to Catalonia in Spanish law.
"Catalonia is not a country that has a huge majority in favour of independence," said Josep Lluis Carod Rovira, a senior official with the Republican Movement of Catalonia party. "Most people seemed satisfied with the autonomy statute. . . . Independence is going to have to wait."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20061101.wxcatalonia01/BNStory/International/home