Atlantic Sentinel

Tag: Small Regions and States

  • Dutch Terms for Caribbean Support Are Fair

    Willemstad Curaçao
    View down the Breedestraat in Willemstad, Curaçao (Unsplash/Lakeisha Bennett)

    Politicians in the Dutch Caribbean have reluctantly agreed to spending reductions and reforms to qualify for €370 million in financial support from the European Netherlands:

    • 25-percent cut in the salaries of politicians.
    • 12.5-percent cut in the salaries of other public-sector workers.
    • Capping public-sector wages at 130 percent of the prime minister’s salary. (Such an income limit already exists in the European Netherlands.)
    • 20-percent contribution from firms to wage subsidies for the unemployed.
    • Oversight from the Dutch Central Bank in the financial industry of the islands.

    With their tourism-dependent economies in free fall due to the outbreak of coronavirus disease, the leaders of Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten felt they had no choice but to agree to what Prime Minister Eugene Rhuggenaath of Curaçao called “unrealistic demands” and John Leerdam, a former Labor Party politician, who was born on Curaçao, called a “diktat” from The Hague.

    But the terms (which do not apply to emergency food and health-care aid) still fall short of the more thorough and long-term reforms Dutch governments, of the left and right, have advised for years, in some cases decades:

    • Changes in the tax law, so the wealthy pay a bigger share.
    • Improvements in tax collection.
    • Diversification of the economy to make the islands less dependent on tourism and oil. (more…)

  • Why Spain’s Threat to Hold Up Brexit Over Gibraltar Is Theater

    Josep Borrell
    Spanish foreign minister Josep Borrell attends a meeting in Brussels, July 17 (European Council)

    Spain has demanded greater clarity on the status of Gibraltar before signing off on the treaty that is meant to regulate Britain’s exit from the EU in March 2019.

    “We want the interpretation to be clear in that text that the negotiations between the United Kingdom and the EU will not apply to Gibraltar,” Josep Borrell, the Spanish foreign minister, said on Monday.

    Here is why his demand is a bit of a dud. (more…)

  • The Spanish Right’s Gibraltar Hypocrisy

    Gibraltar
    Passengers disembark an easyJet plane at Gibraltar Airport, September 29, 2015 (Shutterstock/Nigel Jarvis)

    When Spain’s conservative People’s Party was in power, it promised not to exploit Britain’s exit from the EU to renegotiate the status of Gibraltar.

    Now that the party is out of power, it blames the ruling Socialists for failing to do just that. (more…)

  • Dutch Caribbean Caught Up in ConocoPhillips-Venezuela Oil Dispute

    Willemstad Curaçao
    Cruise ships moored in Willemstad, Curaçao (Shutterstock/Galina Savina)

    The Dutch Caribbean have been caught up in a legal dispute between the American oil company ConocoPhillips and the government of Venezuela.

    A judge has allowed Conoco to seize Venezuelan-owned and -operated refineries on the islands in order to collect $2 billion in compensation awarded by the International Chamber of Commerce for the 2007 nationalization of Conoco assets in the socialist-run country.

    The seizure poses a “potential crisis” to the economy of Curaçao, Prime Minister Eugene Rhuggenaath has told Reuters. The Isla refinery, which processes 335,000 barrels of oil per day, accounts for a tenth of the island’s economy. (more…)

  • South Tyroleans Bide Their Time

    Bolzano Italy
    View of the mountains of South Tyrol from Bolzano, Italy (Unsplash/Gian Luca Pilia)

    An Austrian proposal to extend dual citizenship to German-speaking inhabitants of South Tyrol has heightened already tense relations with Italy over the region.

    However, secession — in the wake of failed independence bids in Catalonia and Scotland — remains unlikely. (more…)

  • Tabarnia: A Separatist Parody That Gets Too Much Attention

    Barcelona flag
    Flag of Barcelona, Spain, September 17, 2013 (Fredrik Rubensson)

    Relatively low support for independence on Catalonia’s Mediterranean coast has caused some to wonder: why not split the cities of Barcelona and Tarragona from the rest of the region?

    Spanish media like 20 minutos, El Confidencial, El Mundo, El País, Libertad Digital and La Razón — eager to belittle Catalan nationalism — have given the tongue-in-cheek proposal, dubbed Tabarnia, disproportionate attention.

    So have Catalan unionists, including Inés Arrimadas, leader of the regional Citizens party, and Albert Rivera, her national party chief.

    It is not entirely without merit. Rural Catalonia is more separatist than cosmopolitan Barcelona and its suburbs.

    But a closer analysis of the most recent election results by the pro-independence outlet El Nacional reveals that the region is more evenly split than the unionists would care to admit. (more…)

  • Corsica Is Not the Next Catalonia

    Bonifacio Corsica France
    Citadel of Bonifacio in Corsica, France (Unsplash/Hendrik Cornelissen)

    Earlier this month, a nationalist coalition called Pè a Corsica (For Corsica) won control of the island’s regional assembly with 56.5 percent of the votes.

    Pè a Corsica‘s success may certainly entail more bargaining power for the island vis-à-vis a staunchly centralist French government and it represents yet another European region seeking to forge its own path away from a dominant nation state.

    But it is unlikely to lead to a Catalonia-style rebellion. (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…)

  • Spain Promises Not to Hold Brexit Hostage to Gibraltar

    Gibraltar
    Gibraltar at dusk (Shutterstock/Philip Lange)

    Spain will not hold the Brexit negotiations hostage to discussions about Gibraltar, the country’s foreign minister, Alfonso Dastis, has told ABC newspaper:

    I do not want to jeopardize an agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom by subjecting it to a need to alter Gibraltar’s status at the same time.

    Dastis did say he hopes the Gibraltarians will consider sharing sovereignty with Spain, but his statement appears to be a climb down.

    Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy earlier said he would not allow Gibraltar to remain in the European single market if Britain leaves.

    A European Council negotiation document published by the Financial Times read that “no agreement between the EU and the United Kingdom may apply to the territory of Gibraltar without the agreement between the Kingdom of Spain and the United Kingdom.”

    This was interpreted in Britain as giving Spain a veto over the terms of its exit. (more…)

  • Ukraine Might Be Better Off If “Little Russia” Did Secede

    Kiev Ukraine
    Apartment towers in Kiev, Ukraine (Unsplash/Nik Shuliahin)

    Separatists in the southeast of Ukraine have declared a new country: “Little Russia”.

    The announcement by Aleksandr Zakharchenko, the leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, amounts to little, argues Gwendolyn Sasse of Carnegie Europe.

    She points out that leaders in Luhansk, Ukraine’s other breakaway region, have distanced themselves from it. Russia, which otherwise backs the Donbas uprising, hasn’t voiced support either. And the local population doesn’t want independence. A survey conducted earlier this year found a majority in favor of remaining in Ukraine. Only a third want to join Russia.

    Yet it might be better for Ukraine if the region does secede. (more…)

  • Dutch Relieved After Mainstream Parties Win Curaçao Election

    Willemstad Curaçao
    Flag of Curaçao in Willemstad (iStock/Flavio Vallenari)

    Former Curaçaoan prime minister Gerrit Schotte has lost the election on the island, avoiding a standoff with the European Netherlands, which is loath to work with the corrupt politician.

    Schotte’s populist Movement for the Future of Curaçao (MFK) gained one seat in the island’s legislature on Friday, winning five seats altogether, but mainstream parties did better.

    The liberal Party for the Restructured Antilles (PAR) and the social democratic Partido MAN won a majority between them. They can now govern alone, although they may add one or two small parties to round out a coalition. (more…)

  • Brexit Is an Opportunity to Take Back Control — For Spain

    Gibraltar
    Passengers disembark an easyJet plane at Gibraltar Airport, September 29, 2015 (Shutterstock/Nigel Jarvis)

    When Brexiteers said leaving the EU would be a chance to “take back control”, they probably weren’t thinking of Spain. But Spain has been thinking about them.

    Now that the United Kingdom has formally triggered its exit from the bloc, Spaniards smell an opportunity to take back control of a territory they ceded to Britain three centuries ago: Gibraltar. (more…)

  • Netherlands Intervenes in Curaçao to Make Sure Elections Proceed

    The Dutch government has given extraordinary powers to the governor of Curaçao to allow elections to go forward on the island despite opposition from its ruling parties.

    Lucille George-Wout, who nominally represents the Dutch king, has been given authority over public services to make sure the elections can proceed.

    It is the first time the Netherlands has intervened so overtly in the politics of the Caribbean island since it became self-governing in 1954.

    Dutch interior minister Ronald Plasterk justified the move, saying election workers had been threatened with dismissal for organizing the vote.

    “It is of the utmost importance that the people of Curaçao can have free and fair elections about the future of the island,” he said. (more…)

  • Spanish City in North Africa at the Heart of Diplomatic Row

    Russia withdrew a request for a flotilla of warships to refuel at Spain’s North African city of Ceuta on Wednesday, sparing the NATO country the embarrassment of having to either turn the Russians down or accept the outrage of its allies.

    Madrid had come under criticism from politicians in continental Europe and the United Kingdom for possibly allowing the Russian ships to dock at Ceuta.

    A group of warships led by Russia’s only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, was expected to stop for supplies in the port after passing through the Strait of Gibraltar on Wednesday morning.

    The vessels are sailing for Syria, where they would join Russian military efforts in support of the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

    NATO’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, warned on Tuesday that the battle group may be used to increase Russian airstrikes in and around Aleppo, a major city in the north of Syria where tens of thousands of civilians are trapped between loyalist and opposition forces. (more…)

  • Spain Unwilling to Keep Gibraltar in EU Single Market

    Since Britain voted to leave the European Union in June, Spain has ramped its rhetoric surrounding the territory of Gibraltar, a sliver of land that has been in British hands for centuries but to which Spain continues to claim sovereignty.

    Earlier this month, the acting foreign minister, José Manuel García-Margallo, threatened to “put up the flag” on the Rock, hinting at a Spanish takeover.

    He insisted that if Britain leaves the EU, “Gibraltar is out” as well, even though 96 percent of its residents voted to stay. (more…)