The incompetence of the Spanish and Catalan politicians

The Catalan mess is nothing to be proud of. All sides are to blame for the current crisis, including the Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, the President of the Generalitat of Catalonia Carles Puigdemont, the Spanish King Felipe VI as well as the leaders of the European Union. Especially the incompetence of the Spanish and Catalan politicians is striking.

The Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is hiding behind legalistic arguments. Indeed, the Catalan separatists are violating the Spanish Constitution as well as international law. However, the Spanish Constitution as well as international law are there to protect the interests of the nation states, the protect the territorial integrity of Spain.

Furthermore, Mariano Rajoy knows that if the Catalan secessionist movement was to succeed, Catalonia would have to exit and then rejoin both the European Union as well as the Eurozone. All 28 EU members would have to agree to Catalonia joining the EU as a member state. The requirement of a unanimous decision by all member states gives Spain effectively a veto right. In other words, Spain could block Catalonia from joining the EU. In the Eurozone, a similar scenario can be envisioned.

Mariano Rajoy is hiding behind legalistic standpoints, hiding behind Spanish, EU and international law. The central government thought it can ignore the claims of the Catalan patriots, nationalists and secessionists because they cannot go anywhere.

But it is even worse. The Catalans had negotiated a new legal status, making Catalonia a nation within the Spanish nation. Rajoy’s conservative Popular Party (PP) was not happy with the new Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia approved after a referendum in 2006. They asked the Constitutional Court of Spain to examine it and, in 2010, the Court decided to invalidate parts of the new Statute of Autonomy. This sent important parts of Catalan society into crisis modus.

As one of many historians, the French professor Stéphane Michonneau has written since its inception at the end of the 19th century, the Catalan movement has defended the idea of a multinational Spain. The secessionists have always been a minority within the Catalan patriots and nationalists.

Which leads us to Carles Puigdemont. He knows of course that support for a Secession as a minority position. Therefore, he and others fighting with him thought it was in there interest to nurture the Catalan nationalist sentiment by provoking a crisis. The central government did everything to help them by trying to prevent October 2017 referendum from taking place. The central government sent in some 7000 policemen who used violence to prevent the referendum from taking place. It took place anyway, but with images of police brutality strengthening the position of Carles Puigdemont and his Catalan nationalists.

A majority of Catalans was and is in favor of a free and fair vote of independence taking place. That is not the same as a majority in favor of independence. They are just — rightly — of the opinion that the people living in Catalonia (not just Catalans) should be asked what they want. Many feel as a nation. And indeed, Catalonia is different from other parts of Spain. That does not mean that they want to create a separate state. The hard-card separatist are most likely still a strong minority. But the central government as well as King Felipe VI with his TV statement pleading in favor of the central government, having no word of regret for the roughly 900 people injured by police during the referendum, made things worse. Now the Catalans are on fire.

Some rightly argue that some Catalan leaders, tainted by corruption scandals, have just embraced the separatist cause in order to get more popular again. The same holds true of Mariano Rajoy and his corrupt PP. Rajoy improved the economic situation in Spain by pushing through some harsh, but needed reforms, but he did not seriously deal with the many corruption scandals involving his as well as other Spanish parties. Nevertheless, he managed to stay on in power, although only as head of a minority government.

In the 2017 referendum crisis, the EU has backed Mariano Rajoy because the EU is made up of nation states and the matter is considered an internal affair of Spain.

The referendum was neither free nor fair because of how both the Catalan and the Spanish central governments acted. The Catalan government insists that the outcome of the referendum is binding. Although over 90% said yes, not even 43% participated because of police violence, because they were against it or because they did not care. We do not know what the voters in Catalonia really think until another free and fair vote.

The central government insists that the referendum was illegal, unconstitutional and therefore worthless. However, legal and legitimate are two different notions. The referendum may not have been legal, but legitimate. Had the central government better dealt with the legitimate claims of the Catalans, the crisis would have been solved a long time ago. A disaster can still be avoided by a compromise giving Catalonia — as well as other Spanish regions — more rights.

As pointed out initially, the incompetence of the Spanish and Catalan politicians is beyond the acceptable. Rajoy and his minority government, Puigdemont and his Catalan government, the King, the EU, they all have failed.

Spain does not need another economic disaster triggered by the secession of Catalonia. Some €45 billion were needed to stabilize the Spanish banking system after the burst of a giant real estate bubble a few years ago.

We live in the interconnected world. Catalonia and its economic center Barcelona are the hub between the rest of Spain and the rest of the Mediterranean. Without Spain, Barcelona and Catalonia would not have their current importance. Catalonia needs to be part of the EU, the eurozone, the common market and Schengen. More autonomy within Spain is the best solution for the current crisis.

A free and fair referendum would not have been the end of the world. Without an open discussion, there can be no Spanish unity. Compromise is the art of the deal in democratic societies.

On the other hand, if a region wants to break away, this should be possible within the EU. If people feel as a separate nation, they should be allowed to from a new state. In 1992, Czechoslovakia was peacefully dissolved by parliament. The Czech and the Slovak Republics were born on January 1, 1992 without any bloodshed. They both joined the EU in 2004.

However, such a vote has to be clear. A qualified majority is required. A 51% vs. 49% decision is no solution. In the case of Catalonia, we are most likely far from a clear decision. As stated above, more autonomy for the Catalans would most likely be the best solution. But it is up to the people concerned to decide what they want.

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Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in 2018. This work was published on one of the websites owned by the Ministry of the Presidency of the Government of Spain, such as the website of La Moncloa. Dowloaded from Wikipedia / Wikimedia.

Article added on October 10, 2017 at 12:20 Riga time