By Charlotte Berends
UCR Class of 2014
On Thursday, September 26, the Catalan Parliament adopted a resolution stating that an e
xact date, an explicit question, and the precise legal process for a referendum on the self-determination of Catalonia would be determined by the end of the year. This resolution marks yet another step in Catalonia’s illegal quest for independence from Spain. It is defined as such by the Spanish Constitution, which does not permit succession. Yet this minor legal problem has not deterred the Catalan Parliament from agreeing to send a motion to the Spanish government, formally requesting the right to hold a referendum at the same time it adopted the resolution. However, the Spanish deputy Prime Minister, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, has already stated that the Spanish Government will stop the referendum from proceeding.
The resolution followed shortly after September 11, the National Day of Catalonia, a day on which many Catalans took to the streets. Throughout Catalonia, a human chain was formed to showcase public opinion and to highlight the peaceful aspect of the protests for independence.
I was in Barcelona during the same week this happened, and I tried to get a clear understanding of what the main driving factors behind the popular movement are. I spoke with a couple of members of the Joventut Nationalista de Catalunya (Nationalistic Youth of Catalonia) and took part in some of the protests to do this.
Catalonia is one of Spain’s seventeen autonomous communities and it is within the top 20% of the Spanish GDP and one of the richest communities in Spain. However, because it is one of the richest communities in Spain, it pays a relatively high amount of taxes. Another Spanish community famous for its independence movement, the Basque Country, has its own system of taxation wherein it does not pay taxes directly to the Spanish state. The taxes are not redistributed back into Catalonia, which in light of the recent economic crisis has angered a lot of Catalans, who argue that Catalonia would not have needed to ask the Spanish government for a bailout if the Spanish government had invested back into Catalonia what it earned from them in taxes.
Besides economic reasons, there are also historical and cultural ones. The taxation issue has also resulted in cuts in education. In Catalonia this has been frowned upon, because it has resulted in the cutting of the instruction of the Catalan language, which is an instrumental part of Catalan identity and culture.
Because of the reasons outlined above, as well as other various issues, the in
dependence movement has gained traction in Catalonia over the past years. The effect of the movement was enough to sway the traditional, non-independence favouring party, Convergència i Unió (CiU), into doing just that. Its President, Artur Mas i Gavarró, called for new elections last year to get a clear overview of whether the Catalan people wanted a referendum on independence. While the CiU lost a considerable number of its seats, it quickly formed a minority, pro-independence government with its main opposition party (the Left Republican party of Catalonia). Now, parties favouring a separate state now hold 55% of all seats in the Catalan Parliament.
The above numbers show that there is some division in Catalonia about the issue of independence, with some wanting to maintain the status quo and some wanting a confederation. Many fear the challenges a fully independent Catalonia would have to face, especially when it comes to the European Union, not the least of which would be providing room for enhanced regional government through the Committee of the Regions.
There is no precedent to show whether a state remains a part of the European Union after it has gained independence from a Member State. So, it might be the case that an independent Catalonia would have to reapply for membership, a process that would probably be blocked by Spain. This would result in a situation where a pro-European Union region would be shunned from being a member of the same institution.
Indeed, when I asked around what the concrete ideas and plans for the future after succession were, I got vague answers. Some stated that independence would still be the main objective and that the current government “was working on the legal issues”. Their main concern was “doing everything in a legal manner [and] ensuring a peaceful process”. When this independence would be achieved, “decisions would be taken on the basis of the resulting situation”, meaning, in other words, ad hoc solutions would take precedence.
I have seen the enthusiastic and cheerful manner in which the Catalans protested for their independence. I have been witness to a joyous sentiment of shared affinity, of a shared objective and a deep-rooted disdain for the Spanish government. I have sung along to songs stating, “We do not want to be a part of Spain, we do not want to be an occupied country, we want independence” and I can say that I have truly enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere. While I do think that the Catalans ought to have the right to self-determination, I am sceptical about its potential outcomes. In order for the Catalan people to gain my support for their quest for independence, they need to first, however, draft concrete ideas and plans for a future post-independent Catalonia.
Charlotte Berends, class of 2014, is a Law and Political Science major from Apeldoorn, The Netherlands.
