Atlantic Sentinel

Tag: Catalonia

Analysis and commentary about the independence crisis in Catalonia by Nick Ottens (based in Barcelona) and Ainslie Noble (an expert in Basque and Catalan identity issues).

  • A Third Way for Catalonia

    Barcelona Spain
    Skyline of Barcelona, Spain (Unsplash/Anastasiia Tarasova)

    Catalonia is split down the middle.

    In regional elections on Thursday, parties that want to break away from Spain got 47 percent support against 44 percent for those that oppose independence. (The balance going to a party that refuses to take sides.)

    These figures are line with the latest government survey, which found almost 49 percent of Catalans in favor of independence and 44 percent opposed.

    Clearly neither side has a convincing mandate and with turnout at 82 percent — the highest in living memory — it’s also clear that more voting, whether in the form of a referendum or another election, will not break the deadlock.

    There is another way out. (more…)

  • What Happens Next in Catalonia?

    Barcelona Spain
    View of the Palau Nacional from downtown Barcelona, Spain, December 29, 2013 (CucombreLibre)

    Separatist parties defended their majority in Catalonia’s regional parliament on Thursday, but only by a whisker. The parties that want to secede from Spain won seventy out of 135 seats against 57 for the unionists.

    Catalonia in Common, a left-wing party that rejects both independence and Spain’s suspension of Catalan home rule, won the remaining eight seats. (more…)

  • Separatists Defend Majority in Catalan Election

    Plaça de Sant Jaume Barcelona Spain
    Early morning in Plaça de Sant Jaume, Barcelona, seat of the Catalan regional government (iStock)
    • Separatists defended their majority in Catalonia’s regional parliament on Thursday.
    • Parties that want to secede from Spain won seventy of the 135 seats against 57 for unionists.
    • The remaining eight seats went to Catalonia in Common, a left-wing party that supports self-determination but opposes independence. (more…)

  • Catalan Election Day Live Blog and Reading List

    On Thursday, the Atlantic Sentinel will be providing live analysis and commentary of the election in Catalonia.

    In addition to updating you on the results, our focus will be on analysis and opinion. We’ll be reading the local, European and international coverage of the election and share (and where necessary translate) interesting takes for you.

    I hope you’ll join us! We’ll kick off around noon Central European Time. (more…)

  • Catalan Election Guide

    Palau de la Generalitat Barcelona Spain
    Palace of the Catalan regional government in Barcelona, Spain at night (iStock/Tomas Sereda)

    Catalans will elect a new regional parliament on December 21. Here is everything you need to know about the election. (more…)

  • People’s Party Should Leave Catalan Media Alone

    Plaça de Catalunya Barcelona Spain
    Plaça de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain, June 23, 2014 (Pixabay/Elena Repina)

    Spain’s conservative People’s Party is overreaching in its attempts to silence pro-independence voices in the Catalan media.

    • The party has reported a Catalan radio journalist, Mònica Terribas, to the Electoral Commission for the province of Barcelona for using the terms “imprisoned ministers” and “president-in-exile” in a broadcast.
    • The same commission earlier banned Catalan public television from using those phrases to refer to separatist leaders who have been taken into custody or fled to Belgium.
    • It also accepted a request from the People’s Party to stop the Barcelona city council from coloring buildings and fountains in yellow to indicate support for the restoration of home rule.
    • Xavier García Albiol, the Catalan People’s Party leader, has proposed to shut down the region’s public television station, TV3, and relaunch it with “normal and plural” journalists, by which he means journalists who oppose secession.
    • Esteban González Pons, a conservative Spanish member of the European Parliament, tells El País there may be a role for NATO in countering Russian “fake news” about the Catalan crisis. (more…)

  • Independence Sentiment Aroused in French Catalonia

    Perpignan France
    Perpignan, France, formerly the capital of Languedoc-Roussilon (Adobe Stock/Gerald Villena)

    Catalonia’s independence referendum has aroused separatist sentiment north of the border, where a Catalan-speaking minority has long been content to live under French rule.

    Northern Catalonia, or Roussillon, has been French since 1659.

    Despite the presence of a small but vocal group of Catalan nationalists and a political party, the Unitat Catalana (UC), most of the region’s inhabitants have no desire to break away.

    But recent events — not just those in Spain — have given French Catalans reason to question the status quo. (more…)

  • Polls Vindicate Puigdemont’s Decision to Form Separatist List

    Carles Puigdemont appears to have made the right decision forming a new political entity, called Together for Catalonia, as opposed to leading his center-right European Democratic Party (PDeCAT) into next month’s election.

    Two recent polls, one published in El Periódico, the other in ABC newspaper, give the deposed president’s list almost 17 percent support.

    That puts it neck and neck with the liberal Citizens and mainstream Socialist Party — both of which oppose Catalan independence — for second place.

    Together for Catalonia uses PDeCAT’s infrastructure but has drawn candidates from civil society. (more…)

  • Catalan Socialists Choose Opposition Over Deal with Separatists

    Catalonia’s Socialists have taken themselves out of contention for the next coalition government by refusing deals with parties that, in the words of leader Miquel Iceta, have taken the region “to the brink of the abyss.”

    Even if the European Democratic Party and the Republican Left, which jointly ruled Catalonia until the regional government was dissolved by Madrid, renounce secession, the Socialists would still not partner with them, Iceta said in a television interview.

    Nor would he commit to a unionist pact with center-right parties, thus condemning the Socialists to four more years in opposition. (more…)

  • Rajoy Walks Back Promise of Constitutional Reform

    Carles Puigdemont Mariano Rajoy
    Catalan president Carles Puigdemont listens to Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy giving a speech in Barcelona, August 18 (La Moncloa)

    Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy has walked back his promise of constitutional reform, saying in a radio interview, “I have never been a supporter of reforming the Constitution. I’m prepared to listen, but not to go against unity or sovereignty.”

    His only concession was to agree the current model of autonomous communities needs to be “evaluated” — but that could mean different things:

    • Left-wing parties argue for something close to federation, perhaps even with a right to self-determination for the Basques and Catalans.
    • Nationalists on the right, who felt Rajoy didn’t intervene strongly enough to disrupt the October 1 independence referendum in Catalonia, argue for centralization. (more…)

  • Don’t Exaggerate Russian Meddling in the Catalan Independence Crisis

    Plaça de Catalunya Barcelona Spain
    Night falls on Plaça de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain, September 11 (Sergio Marchi)

    Spanish media exaggerate Russia’s role in the Catalan independence crisis.

    Russian state media, like RT and Sputnik, and Russia-friendly trolls, like WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, have predictably sought to exploit the crisis in a major European Union and NATO country, for three reasons:

    1. To encouraging Catalan separatism.
    2. To provoking an overreaction from the Spanish right.
    3. To legitimizing the self-determination referendum it organized in the Crimea in 2014.

    But there is little evidence Russian propaganda has changed anyone’s mind. (more…)

  • Pro- and Anti-Independence Parties Fail to Unite in Catalonia

    Oriol Junqueras
    Oriol Junqueras, the leader of Catalonia’s Republican Left, makes a speech in Barcelona, Spain, July 20, 2015 (CDC)

    Catalan parties in favor and opposed to seceding from Spain have failed to unite in time for the election in December.

    A unionist list proposed by the liberal Ciudadanos has been rejected by the Socialists and People’s Party.

    A separatist alliance fell apart when the Republican Left conditioned it on the participation of other left-wing parties. (more…)

  • Belgians Criticize Persecution of Catalan Leaders

    Belgian politicians from the left and right have criticized Spain’s persecution of Catalan leaders, five of whom, including the deposed regional president, Carles Puigdemont, have sought refuge in Brussels.

    • Jan Jambon, interior minister and member of the New Flemish Alliance: “Knocking on peaceful people, government members who are jailed… What did they do wrong? They carried out the mandate they received from their voters. I wonder where Europe is in all this. This is happening in a European member states and the silence is deafening.”
    • Elio Di Rupo, former prime minister and leader of the opposition Socialist Party: “Puigdemont has abused his position, but Rajoy has behaved like an authoritarian Francoist. Let’s find the path to a more federal Spain.”
    • Guy Verhofstadt, former prime minister and leader of the liberal bloc in the European Parliament, which includes Spain’s Ciudadanos and Catalonia’s European Democratic Party: “While we have to respect the right and the obligation of Spanish courts to defend and to protect the rule of law, the question must be asked if this imprisonment is disproportionate. Are there no other ways to secure that these separatist leaders receive a fair trial and a judgement?”
    • Bart De Wever, mayor of Antwerp and leader of the New Flemish Alliance: “Things are happening here which we wouldn’t tolerate in any country of the European Union. You don’t lock people up for practicing their democratic rights.” (more…)

  • Support for Catalan Independence Up, But Most Favor Compromise

    Barcelona Spain demonstration
    Catalans celebrate their National Day in Barcelona, Spain, September 13, 2012 (Fotomovimiento)

    Support for Catalan independence has gone up but remains below 50 percent, according to a survey carried out by the regional government every four months.

    Given the choice between independence and the status quo, 48.7 percent of Catalans would now opt to break away against 43.6 percent who want to stay in Spain.

    Those figures were 41.1 and 49.4 percent in June, respectively.

    Spain’s heavy-handed response to the October 1 referendum, which had been ruled illegal by the Constitutional Court, is most likely to blame for the shift. (more…)

  • Rajoy Could Struggle to Implement Direct Rule in Catalonia

    Mariano Rajoy
    Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy is about to deliver a news conference in Madrid, July 13, 2016 (PP)

    Spain is due to revoke Catalonia’s autonomy after the regional parliament voted for independence. But it could struggle to implement direct rule.

    Mariano Rajoy’s government is expected to:

    • Order the Catalan government to step down;
    • Curtail the powers of the Catalan parliament;
    • Put Catalan public media under Spanish supervision; and
    • Call regional elections within six months.

    The question is if and how he will be able to enforce this. (more…)