Europe
Is Catalonia verdict opening a can of worms for Spanish government?

flickr/Jobopa
On 9th of November, Catalonia in Spain held the much disputed referendum on the matter of seceding from Spain. Catalonia, the far north-east of Spain is one of the wealthiest regions of the country. Spanish Constitutional Court deemed the proposed referendum process illegal which was circumvented by the Catalan Government, which carried it out as a citizen participation process. 81% of the Catalans who participated in the process voted in favour of Catalonia’s secession from Spain. The result has imbued the movement with more strength.
Catalan regional President Artur Mas is at the helm of the movement who undertook the Catalonia secession referendum as one of the agendas when he became the Catalonian President. Many unofficial referendums were held in a lot of towns in Catalonia in 2010 and 2012 including wide demonstrations in Barcelona declaring “Catalonia, new state in Europe. In September Scotland was allowed to carry on an official referendum on the matter of secession from United Kingdom, which further fanned the flames of Catalan separatist sentiment.
About the outcome of the unofficial referendum Catalan officials analysed that out of 6.3 million potential voters, 2.3 million cast ballots, with over 80 percent approving secession. The 6.3 million potentials included 1 million immigrant residents and citizens aged 16 and 17, who normally would not be on the region’s electoral census. Artur Mas declared this as a spectacular result expressing the wish of Catalans. He has a good reason to believe that this can be held as a starting point for negotiating with Spanish government. Catalan Government has pledged to make the secession efforts more intense keeping the results in consideration. However Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy has deemed this referendum as a huge failure, he said the turn-out was quite low key compared to the months spent by campaigning authorities. Rajoy also said that the vote was not only non-binding but it was illegal and they will take legal actions against Mas and the regional government officials. Rajoy has expressed that they are ready to negotiate with Catalan government but without placing any take-way on the table.
Strong proponents of Catalonia secession believe that a wealthy region as Catalonia is coping with the economic stress that is laid onto it by Spanish government. Catalans feel that the Catalonia growth has been a secondary matter for Spanish government and has been long neglected which will be better managed if Catalonia is granted autonomy of its own affairs. Additionally Catalans feel culturally different and the recent verdict speaks for the choice of people. On the other hand those against the secession apprehend that if this is granted it might lead to balkanization of the European nations even further with Scania, Flanders, Madeira and other regions where independence tumults have been witnessed. Freedom might not be stable for Catalonia as Spain will hinder her process of becoming an EU member without which the Catalan economy will be in a state of unrest.
Spanish government is already showing deep concern for the uprising to turn violent given the radical nature of the cause. Perhaps negotiating with the Catalan regional government might be a wiser path considering the current factors. This referendum despite being non-binding has certainly left Spanish government in doldrums.
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