Independence for Catalonia “is no longer some distant dream,” said El Punt Avui (Barcelona) in an editorial. After Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy refused to grant our province greater autonomy in taxing and spending, Catalan President Artur Mas last week called for early elections—and promised to hold a referendum on breaking away from Spain. Rajoy claims that such a referendum would be unconstitutional, but we will vote nevertheless. “The path is now laid out.” The Catalan parliament already has a majority in favor of greater autonomy, and the elections are sure to boost the parties that support outright independence. “While the Spanish state is clinging unbendingly to the immutability of the constitution, Catalonia strides ahead, cautiously and without overdoing it, but at a steady, unflinching pace.”
It’s no wonder Catalonia wants independence, said Harriet Alexander in The Daily Telegraph (U.K.). The Catalan people speak their own language and have long agitated for more autonomy within Spain, and those sentiments are only growing. Last month, on Catalonia’s own national day, more than a million Catalans—out of a population of just 7 million—took to the streets of Barcelona, the regional capital, to demonstrate for sovereignty. But this is also about economics. As Spain’s wealthiest province, Catalonia is “fed up with paying for its poorer neighbors.” Spain is crippled by soaring unemployment and a stagnant economy, and now its banks are in trouble. Mas believes that he could save his province from a desperate fate if only he had more control of its finances.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
5 hilariously spirited cartoons about the spirit of ChristmasCartoons Artists take on excuses, pardons, and more
-
Inside the house of AssadThe Explainer Bashar al-Assad and his father, Hafez, ruled Syria for more than half a century but how did one family achieve and maintain power?
-
Sudoku medium: December 22, 2024The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
-
Cyprus: A bank bailout through confiscationfeature Bailing out Cyprus was bound to be “messy and hard to achieve,” but no one expected it to be this bad.
-
Europe: What the ash cloud can teach us
feature One lesson Europe learned while beset by a cloud of ash is that its business leaders are more resourceful than its politicians.
-
Switzerland: The end of banking secrecy?
feature The Swiss have “capitulated to American pressure” and compromised their famous principle of banking secrecy, says Gerd Zitzelsberger in Germany's Süddeutsche Zeitung.
-
Nationalizing banks: Europe shows the way
feature European finance ministers agreed to work together to inject billions of euros into struggling banks in hopes of restoring confidence in the financial system.