The Crisis in Catalan: Catalonian’s Want to Secede from Spain
By: Michael Stolte
The Catalan region of Spain, often referred to as Catalonia, is one of Spain’s most wealthy and productive regions, and has often expressed a desire to secede from the Spanish government and form its own state.[1] While Spain was under the rule of military dictator General Francisco Franco, Catalonia was included as a part of Spain.[2] However, after Franco’s death in 1975, the passing of the new Spanish Constitution in 1978 gave Catalonia autonomy again.[3] In 2006, the region was described in a statute as a nation and given even more credibility, however, the 2008 financial crisis and Spain’s Constitutional Court undid much of this.[4] This upset many Catalonian’s and lead to a symbolic referendum in 2014, followed by separatist politicians winning the 2015 regional elections.[5] A full referendum on secession occurred on October 1, 2017, and was followed by the Catalonian parliament declaring independence on October 27, 2017.[6] While organizers of the referendum stated that 90% of the voters backed seceding, there was only a 43% voter turnout largely due to a boycott lead by Spanish loyalists.[7] This led to the Spanish government in the capital of Madrid to use emergency powers to dissolve the parliament, fire the leaders of the movement, and call for a quick special election, during which separatist candidates again won a slight majority.[8] Many pro-independence leaders including the former Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont fled abroad, and many who remained were arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced, including former Catalan vice president Orio Junqueras, who received a thirteen year prison sentence for sedition and misuse of public funds.[9]
The main reason that the Catalonian people want independence is they feel as one of the wealthier regions, they give much to the Spanish government in Madrid, but do not see much back in return.[10] Fueling these tensions are videos of demonstrators being beaten by Spanish National Police, which has led to an increase in clashes and street violence.[11] However, even if the Catalonian people were to successfully gain independence from Spain, Catalonia would likely have difficulty being recognized internationally because it generally has taken a human rights abuse or genocide situation for countries that have seceded to be recognized on the international stage.[12] This can be observed through the European Union refusing to acknowledge Catalonia and instead referring to it as an internal matter for Spain.[13] However, “in 2017 the Economist Intelligence Unit, which compiles an influential annual democracy ranking, said Spain risked being downgraded from a ‘full democracy’ to a ‘flawed’ one over its handling of the situation.”[14]
After trying and failing to ignore the Catalonian separatists, Spain’s new socialist prime minister Pedro Sánchez has attempted to keep the peace and the possibility of unity alive by being open and communicating with the separatists instead of what Mark Nayler of ForeignPolicy.com described as “retreating behind a firewall of inflexibility—the approach taken by Sánchez’s conservative predecessor Mariano Rajoy.”[15] Sanchez met with Catalan President Quim Torra on February 6, 2020, in an attempt to jump start better relations between the Capital in Madrid and the Catalan Capital of Barcelona, which included the Prime Minister traveling from Madrid to Barcelona in a symbolic gesture.[16] Sanchez said that he hoped the meeting would enable the two governments to “restart the dialogue at the point where our paths diverged.”[17] Nayler describes that divergence as occurring when the Spanish Supreme Court sentenced the separatists—including Catalan vice president Orio Junqueras—to prison.[18]
The Catalan separatist’s presence in Spanish parliament has also been felt in Madrid through legislative holds, specifically in regard to the national budget. In order to pass an executive budget for Spain, the Spanish left-wing coalition had to agree to negotiations and discussions with the Catalan President regarding secession.[19] In return, Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (Republican Left of Catalonia), often referred to as the ERC party members agreed to abstain from the vote, leaving the final tally at 168 in favor, 150 against and 19 abstaining.[20]
Spain’s King Felipe VI has also attempted to cross into the political realm and aid in the discussions, however, his participation has not always been welcome as nearly 50 politicians from Catalan declared that they have no King on February 3, 2020.[21] The King is supposed to be the embodiment of Spain’s “unity and permanence,” and to “arbitrate and moderate” political institutions, the Catalan independence movement has forced him to balance these obligations, something he has attempted to do.[22] King Felipe made a rare political address when pro-independence protestors staged a large general strike in Barcelona.[23] The king called it “reckless” but did not and has not done much else to help diffuse or solve the situation.[24] As the movement continues to grow, Felipe and Prime Minister Sanchez have many battles ahead.
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[1] Catalonia's bid for independence from Spain explained, BBC (Oct. 18, 2019), https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-29478415.
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Id.
[7] Id.
[8] Id.
[9] Id.
[10] Id.
[11] Id.
[12] Id.
[13] Id.
[14] Id.
[15] Mark Nayler, There’s a Solution to Catalonia’s Crisis. Spain’s King Is Standing in the Way., Foreignpolicy.com (Feb. 25, 2020, 4:25 AM), https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/02/25/solution-to-catalonia-crisis-felipe-pedro-sanchez-erc-spain-king-is-standing-in-the-way/.
[16] Id.
[17] Id.
[18] Id.
[19] Id.; Fernando Heller, Catalan separatists pave the way for Spain’s future ‘progressive’ budget, Euractiv (Feb. 28, 2020), https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/catalan-separatists-pave-the-way-for-spains-future-progressive-budget/.
[20] Id.
[21] Nayler, supra note 15.
[22] Id.
[23] Id.
[24] Id.