Catalan independence: basic explanation of the Catalan referendum situation

Why has there been so much trouble in Catalunya and what are the issues?

A "Spanish politics for beginners" guide to the Catalan separatist situation

The events of the last few days in Catalunya have hit the headlines not only in Spain but also throughout the rest of the world, with the events surrounding the illegal independence referendum on Sunday having led to protests over the way in which Spanish police carried out their orders to prevent voting, and huge uncertainty in the face of a possible unilateral declaration of independence in the regional parliament early next week.

(Latest update: the Constitutional Court has suspended Monday’s session of the Catalan parliament precisely to avoid such an announcement).

But the international media coverage given to police attempts to close the polling stations and the violent clashes over the weekend  have led to many emotional rather than rational judgements being made, and to some of the key questions being relegated to the background and replaced with half-information in the international media, as well as fake information being widely spread on social media, the result being that many of those rotundly condemning the police actions and stance of the Spanish government have little actual idea of what is behind the events of last weekend.

Why is there a call for Catalan independence?

The reasons for the existence of a Catalan independence movement are principally historical and cultural, and lie in the historical development of what is now Spain which was formerly a number of separate kingdoms. Unlike much of the country, the period of Moorish rule in Catalunya between the 8th and 13th centuries was brief, and for much of the Middle Ages the area was fought over by forces representing the Frankish Empire (or France), Aragón and Castilla. Caught in the middle, it seldom achieved independent status except for a short-lived republic during the 30 Years’ War in the 17^th century.

Nonetheless, during the centuries a distinct Catalan cultural and linguistic identity was forged, and in 1922 Francesc Macià formed the Estat Català or Catalan State pro independence party. In 1931 the ERC, Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, was formed, winning  a major victory in the 1931 elections and a Catalan Republic proclaimed, although after negotiations Catalunya accepted autonomy within the Spanish state. However, the Spanish Civil War changed the political map of Spain and in 1938 General Franco abolished Catalan autonomy and Catalunya remained under his control until his death in 1975. During that period the use of the Catalan language was banned in government-run institutions and at public events, and the regional president Lluís Companys was brought to Spain from exile, and executed.

This repression, which was not exclusive to Catalunya and resulted in similar situations elsewhere in Spain, is still present in the minds of some Catalans, who maintain that manifestations of Catalan identity are still quashed by the authorities in Madrid and that the region is maltreated economically, financially and politically. “Madrid is robbing us” is a commonly heard rallying cry, and whether it is true or not this is the sentiment which ultimately underlies the strength of nationalist feeling in Catalunya.

It must be pointed out that other regions of Spain also claim that they are "discriminated against" by Madrid and complain frequently about unfair financing infrastructure, and that their region does not receive its fair share of investment, in fact, virtually every region of Spain blames the central government for some shortfall in their financial affairs!

Surge in separatist interest co-inciding with the Spanish economic crisis

Although the topic of Catalan independence has been simmering below the surface for many years, it became a major political campaign under the leadership of Artur Mas, who promised in his 2010 election campaign that he would gain more fiscal control for the region and would put the issue to a referendum.

In truth, during the economic boom years prior to the collapse of the property market which began in the first quarter of 2008, business was booming and there was plenty of work as the economy grew at an artificially high level of growth due to the demand for second homes, and there was little clamour for change.

But as the jobless total increased to exceed 20%, and the country imploded into a deep recession from which it has taken 8 years to emerge, discontent grew, providing fertile ground for calls for separatism and making the central government an easy target for those enduring the economic misery which sparked off mass protests, and the “marches for dignity” which resulted in the so-called “gagging law” due to the violence level of some of the protests.

At this point the campaign claiming that Catalunya was discriminated against fiscally by Madrid gained momentum and Mas injected millions of euros into supporting his campaign, focusing on the Catalan identity and the fiscal justification of separatism from his parties' point of view.

In 2012, after a rally which attracted anywhere between 600,000 and 1.2 million people depending on which set of figures you choose to believe, Artur Mas announced that it was time for the Catalans to “exercise the right to self determination” and called snap elections to give himself the mandate to do so.

His own party lost seats, but a coalition deal created a strong government with pro-separatist leanings, holding sufficient seats to push forward with the separatist agenda.

On December 12th 2013 he announced November 9th 2014 as the date for a self-determination referendum, with two questions, "Do you want Catalonia to become a State?" and "In case of an affirmative response, do you want this State to be independent?".

Under the Spanish Constitution referendums on sovereignty must be held nationally and not regionally, and any referendum held without the consent of the Spanish government is illegal, so the motion to hold a referendum in Catalunya was defeated in a national parliamentary vote and Mas was told unequivocally by the Spanish government that no referendum would be held in Catalunya.

Undeterred, Mas announced an “informal consultancy” would be run by volunteers, and in defiance of a court order from the constitutional court, Mas went ahead with his vote, a decision which caused political consternation and resulted in another snap election being called.

Mas was forced to step aside after three months of infighting between the separatist coalition partners who have different ideas about how independence can be achieved (one advocating a political solution, as opposed to the more direct action route preferred by the others)  in order to avoid a second election, and resigned from his seat in parliament. In spite of claiming victory in his “informal consultancy” ( 81% of those who turned out voted yes, but turnout was only 42%) he was powerless to prevent the course of law and order being invoked and was found guilty by the courts for abuse of power and disobedience and given a two year prison sentence and a fine of 36,500 euros for organising an illegal vote in defiance of a court order.

In 2016, Carles Puigdemont took over as regional president and immediately stated his intention to pursue a Catalan separatist agenda by becoming the first Catalan president to omit the oath swearing loyalty to the king and constitution when he took office.

He set a referendum date for 1st October 2017 in September 2016, the question on the ballot paper to be, "Do you want Catalonia to become an independent state in the form of a republic?".

The referendum was approved by the Catalan parliament in a session on 6th September 2017 along with a law stating that independence would be binding with a simple majority, without requiring a minimum turnout, in spite of the fact that the law is illegal according to the Catalan Statutes of Autonomy which require a two third majority in the Catalan parliament for any change to Catalonia's status. The referendum itself is also illegal according to the Spanish Constitution and was suspended by the Constitutional Court the day after.

The Catalan government invoked the right to self-determination, and in response the Spanish government authorised a legal constitutionality check to review the legislation and ascertain that the parliamentary decision was binding. Following this analysis, the Constitutional Court deemed the legislation was correct and binding and annulled the Catalan parliamentary resolution. In response, the Catalan parliament passed its own local referendum law, but this was again suspended by the Constitutional Court, which stated that the autonomous communities are bound by the Spanish Constitution which does not permit regional referenda.

However, the Catalan government pressed ahead with plans to hold the referendum illegally, and a cat and mouse game ensued to set up polling stations in which the vote could be held, the Guardia Civil closing down websites and blockading planned locations to prevent the polling stations opening, following the instructions of the Constitutional Court.

The day before 1st October a “Universal census” system was introduced, allowing electors to vote in any designated polling station, rather than the officially designated venues, so many unofficial stations were set up in venues such as schools, where events were put on with the excuse of opening the premises, which were then occupied by parents keeping the space open for the voting the following day. These were the scene of some of the more violent forceful evictions witnessed by the world as police attempted to close them down and stop the illegal vote.

Thousands of extra police were drafted in from across Spain in the days before the vote, but levels were insufficient to blockade every polling station across the vast region of Catalunya.

In the end, 2,020,144 people voted for independence, with 176,565 (8.04%) voting against, but with a turnout of only 42.58%.

 

What is the current status of Catalunya within Spain?

When the Spanish Constitution was drawn up in 1978, three years after the death of General Franco, it provided for the creation of seventeen Autonomous Communities within the country, each of them with a large degree of self-government but ultimately accountable to the national government in Madrid, and Catalunya is one of those seventeen.

The first Statute of Autonomy was ratified by the Catalan population in a referendum in 1979, with 88.15% of voters supporting it, while a modified version was also approved in 2006 with a support rate of 73.9%.

Among the privileges afforded to Catalunya by its current status, apart from its own flag, regional government and parliament (as is the case for the other Autonomous Communities), it is worth highlighting the following:

• There is a separate Catalan police force
• The Catalan language is used in public administration, official documents and on public broadcasting services, although understanding of Castilian Spanish is even more widespread in the region than understanding of Catalan.
• The Catalan language is also used in schools, alongside Castilian Spanish, often against the wishes of parents.
• Catalunya has “missions” in foreign countries, equivalent to Embassies although without the same official status.
• Catalunya controls its own regional budgets and has significant control over the way in which it manages its own finances, allocates its budgets and runs the region, as do all of the autonomous communities.

However, the areas of defence, border control, customs and inland revenue remain under the control of the central government in Madrid.

The concessions granted to Catalunya are wider-reaching than those afforded to most other Autonomous Communities. For example, the only other regional police force in Spain is in the Basque Country, while the only other regions with co-official languages are those of the Basque Country, Galicia, the Balearic Islands, the Comunidad Valenciana and Basque-speaking areas of Navarra.

Does Catalunya need Spain?

It is not sufficient to look at this enormously complex issue in terms of the practicalities of economic survival alone, as the context of the EU also has to be taken into account.

On the one hand, Catalunya may account for only 6.3 per cent of the land area in Spain, but it has a powerful economy with the annual GDP reaching 216 billion euros last year (larger than many European countries). It has first-rate infrastructures and communications systems, a major international airport (Barcelona-El Prat) and one of the 20 busiest ports in the EU (also in Barcelona).

There is little doubt that given time an independent Catalan economy could be a strong one, although whether the current low unemployment and high GDP per capita could be maintained in the short term is a doubt, and already it is becoming apparent that major companies and business concerns may leave the area if independence becomes a reality. Indeed, after the events of last weekend, there have already been announcements that high-profile companies are moving their principal headquarters from Barcelona due to concerns over future stability.

But on the other hand, Catalunya does not currently have in place the full apparatus associated with the status of independent State, as mentioned above. There are no border controls (these would become necessary on automatically leaving the EU), no customs service, no currency and no armed forces.

In many ways, the Catalan exit from the EU would be akin to the Brexit situation in the UK at the moment, with a major web of legislation and infrastructure requiring a total restructuring and complex negotiation.

At the same time, the financial and economic viability of an independent Catalunya would require the immediate creation of an independent inland revenue service and a central bank.

And there are other concerns related to debt. At present Catalunya owes 77 billion euros, including 52 billion to the Spanish government under the preferential terms of the FLA liquidity fund, who would no doubt be interested to learn about repayment plans if independence is declared.

And although as one of the wealthier regions of Spain the Catalans currently pay around 10 billion euros more in taxes every year than they receive in public funding from the central government, it should also be remembered that since the FLA fund was set up by the Spanish government in 2012, enabling the Autonomous Communities to borrow cash they were unable to raise on the international markets during the economic crisis, Catalunya has received 67 billion euros from the fund (far more than any other region of Spain) which was urgently required to prop up its financial position. It's only four years since pharmacists were striking in the region as its regional government was unable to pay its prescriptions bill.

And finally, back to the question of the EU: Catalunya would not be re-admitted to the EU either immediately or automatically, and for this to happen would require the consent of the other Member States, including Spain, who quite logically, could be "difficult" about any concessions being granted. It must also be highlighted that the secession of Catalunya would unleash a shockwave which may un-nerve other areas of Europe who also have sections of their own territory seeking independence and the fear of unleashing other claims for independence could easily provoke a hardening of attitude amongst other EU members, similar to the hard-nosed indifference the UK is experiencing as it attempts to negotiate favourable terms for Brexit. Catalunya is unlikely to be welcomed with open arms into the European "club".

In short, the Catalans might theoretically be able to stand on their own two feet economically, but at the same time Spain could make it very difficult for them to do so and the costs of paying for its own defences and the infrastructure it takes for granted currently supplied by Spain, may not make it quite such an attractive proposition financially as it may immediately appear!

Does Spain need Catalunya?

As was mentioned above, Catalunya accounts for only 6.3 per cent of the land area of Spain, but its importance to the country is far greater.

For a start, around 7.5 million people live there (16 per cent of the Spanish population), and in economic terms the contribution of Catalunya is even more significant. In the tourism sector, for example, 24 per cent of all foreign visitors to this country last year chose the region as their principal destination, while Catalunya also accounts for 25.6 per cent of Spain’s exports and 29.2 per cent of all inward investment in the country.

But that’s not all. The port of Barcelona is one of the most important in Europe, and the location of Catalunya within the EU makes it a vital element of Spain being connected to the rest of the EU. There has been much talk in the Spanish press of late regarding the importance of the Mediterranean rail corridor which is under construction from Andalucía all the way to France and into central Europe, but, like most other communications routes heading north, passes through Catalunya.

All key communications routes into Europe pass through Catalunya; rail, road and air.

Should Catalunya become independent, a barrier would exist between Spain and the rest of Europe, which may be a country which is not part of Europe should it struggle to gain entry into the EU.

And in addition, there is another far less tangible way in which Spain needs Catalunya on board…

The danger of setting a precedent

Earlier this week the humorous website El Mundo Today published a spoof article informing its readers that while the Spanish government had been concentrating on preventing the outlawed referendum in Catalunya on Sunday, the other 16 Autonomous Communities had all sneakily held their own referenda, which had not been banned and were therefore valid, and all had voted to leave Spain.

The result, according to the article, was that in effect Spain now consisted of Catalunya and nothing else, and that King Felipe VI was therefore preparing to take up residence in Barcelona.

It is pleasing to report that there has been room for humour in the press this week, but in the case of some Autonomous Communities the joke here is not too far away from reality. Were Catalunya to achieve independence simply by refusing to obey the national government then the separatist movement in the Basque Country and Navarra would be sure to take note: after the 40-year campaign of violence and terror by ETA failed to achieve any progress at all, separatists could possibly see a far easier door opening up for them.

If Spain stands to lose the port of Barcelona, Bilbao would then be added to the list!

Similarly, nationalists in the Balearic Islands and the Comunidad Valenciana might see a way of proposing their own ways of “freeing themselves” from Madrid – both have been referred to in the recent past as “Catalan nations” - while in Galicia, where a terrorist separatist group remains active, similar secessionist moves cannot be ruled out.

The Basque independence issue has been headline news in Spain for more than 40 years and over 800 people were murdered during the ETA independence campaign. Today the campaign has switched to the political scene and dozens of town halls in the Basque Country and Navarra are controlled by separatist councils. Hundreds of thousands of people participate in peaceful protests and marches supporting the Basque separatist cause and calling for flexibility from the Spanish government in relation to the ETA activists who remain behind bars. Yet the Spanish government still refuses to negotiate in any way, shape or form. Acts of petty defiance are commonplace, hence the regular stories about the refusal of these councils to fly the Spanish flag or hang a portrait of the King.

In short, if Catalan independence goes ahead, it could open the flood-gates to a series of events which might leave Spain without much of its northern and eastern territory, the crack created by a Catalan departure widening into a wedge between France and Spain, at the same time losing both population and its main economic powerhouses.

What is the King’s standpoint?

Some have criticized Felipe VI for making no mention of the victims of alleged police violence last Sunday in his address to the nation on Tuesday, but in the context of the history of the Spain and its monarchy over the last 80 years his preoccupation with other aspects of the situation might be understandable.

The King’s great-grandfather, Alfonso XIII, went into exile before the start of the Civil War, in 1931, and his grandfather Juan de Borbón (the Count of Barcelona) was passed over by General Franco in 1969 (a year after Felipe VI’s birth), when he nominated Juan Carlos I to take over as Head of State on his eventual death. This was because Franco believed that Juan would be too liberal, whereas Juan Carlos, he believed, would allow the Francosit regime to continue.

However, Franco made a mistake, as Juan Carlos embraced the process of transition into democracy far more warmly than anyone had imagined. He recognized the situation astutely, and saw that it had taken a brutal civil war and 40 years of dictatorship, but finally, all of the regions of Spain were willing to pull in the same direction and to create a unified democratic society.

This they did, largely under the guidance of Alfonso Suárez but always with the support of Juan Carlos, Felipe’s father, and never was this made clearer than during the attempted coup d’état on 23^rd February 1981, when the Monarch’s words provided tranquillity and reassurance at a time when all of the progress could have been undone.

This was the climate in which Felipe was brought up, and having watched his father oversee the consolidation of a long-awaited unified and democratic Spain, in which different regions agreed to disagree in order to pursue common goals, it is hardly surprising that he is unwilling to see all of the hard work potentially undone in Catalunya.

His message this week was passionate and sincere, calling for unity in Spain and condemning the tactics employed by the Catalan government.

And the Spanish government?

In short, see above. Some of the parties currently in opposition in the Spanish parliament, particularly Podemos, are advocating a negotiated independence deal, but the PP, led by Mariano Rajoy, remains impassive in maintaining that it will not sanction secession under any circumstances.

By no means all Spaniards are in agreement, but the government’s belief is that since 1978 Spain has given Catalunya a major degree of control over its own finances, cultural identity and allowed it to make its own decisions in the manner in which it runs its own autonomous region, the same as the other autonomous regions of Spain. At the same time, Sr Rajoy and his colleagues are utterly convinced that independence would have negative effects for both Catalunya and the rest of Spain.

The PP’s traditional rivals in the PSOE, it should be noted, are also advocating a refusal to negotiate until the Catalan government abandons its policy of repeatedly refusing to obey the law and the courts, while newer rivals Ciudadanos are in favour of the central government stepping in as soon as possible and activating Article 155 of the Constitution.

Was policing too heavy-handed last Sunday?

An impossible question to answer, and there will be as many differing points of view as there are readers of this article.

But it has to be remembered that the whole point of a police force to apply law and order is negated if there are no provisions for a firm approach to be adopted, and that once ordered to uphold the orders of the Constitutional Court and the government last weekend the forces of law and order were placed in a difficult position.

One thing is to form a human barrier around a polling station to prevent people from entering, but that becomes a different proposition when bricks are being hurled at the “thin blue line”, officers are being insulted and attacked, and members of the public refuse to obey first requests and then orders.

In this situation it is easy to condemn officers who react in kind, but few observers have condemned those members of the public who flouted the law and indulged in violent provocation. Little media coverage was given outside of Spain when officers were attacked, their vehicles torched and were injured intervening in street fights. The point of view of the government is that the unpleasant scenes in Catalunya last Sunday were caused by those who consistently and repeatedly broke the law to create the situation in which they occurred, in spite of a major build-up to the illegal referendum and in full knowledge that there would be confrontation should those opening polling stations ignore court orders and the express instructions of the national government, and the truth is that, with the benefit of hindsight, both sides could probably have done more to avoid violent confrontation.

In fact, some observers believe that Mariano Rajoy’s mistake was not to over-react, but to have failed to react earlier. Had he already activated Article 155, or had the national police and the Guardia Civil moved in a month ago, they argue, things might not have come to a head as they did on Sunday.

There has been considerable controversy over the alleged “passivity” of the Mossos d’Esquadra (the Catalan police force) on various occasions over the last few weeks, and their apparent reluctance to risk the anger of the Catalan public by clamping down on public disorder.

The Mossos have been heavily criticised for failing to provide support for the additional police drafted in by the national government to police the disorder in the run-up to the referendum, and indeed, today the head of the Mossos is appearing in court having been indicted for alleged insurrection and endangering the lives of police officers through the passivity of his own forces.

International media have of course, focused on the violent scenes relating to the polling stations, but as anyone who has managed to reach the end of this article can perhaps appreciate, the topic of Catalan Independence is far more complex than 2 seconds of video footage on social media can possibly convey.