Katalunia eta Financial Times

Elisenda Paluzie‏ @epaluzie (https://twitter.com/epaluzie/status/909535317291618304)

Edito Financial Times treballant per la 3a via el 2 Oct La trampa q vaig anunciar a @SentitCritic: Estatut del 2006

2017 ira. 17

Catalonia’s referendum is no basis for statehood

https://www.ft.com/content/eb770a58-9a02-11e7-a652-cde3f882dd7b

Negotiations on improved self-government are the right way forward

In an address to the Spanish parliament in 1932, José Ortega y Gasset, the renowned philosopher and essayist, described Catalonia as “a problem which cannot be solved, it can only be put up with . . . Other Spaniards must put up with Catalans [and] Catalans must put up with other Spaniards.” Ortega was speaking in the turbulent era of Spain’s Second Republic, just before the 1936-39 civil war, when Catalan secessionism briefly posed a challenge to Spain’s unity. Eight decades on, political conditions are markedly different. However, a dose of Ortega’s wisdom and common sense is much needed in the intensifying confrontation between Catalonia’s separatists and Spain’s central authorities.

Catalonia’s regional government and its secessionist allies are pressing on with plans to stage a referendum on independence on October 1. They are doing so in defiance of Spain’s constitutional court, the ultimate authority on such matters, which suspended the Catalan law providing for the vote. They are doing so despite the fact that Article 2 of Spain’s 1978 constitution refers to “the indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation” and “the common and indivisible homeland of all Spaniards”.

Apart from the legal arguments, which favour Spain’s central authorities, the political case of Catalonia’s separatists is anything but watertight. In regional elections held in September 2015, pro-independence forces ranging from centre-right nationalists to radical leftists won a narrow majority of seats, but fell short of a majority of all votes cast. This was no basis for accelerating the secessionist programme.

Yet the regional government and legislature have gone ahead, anyway, and in a manner that skips airily over the democratic standards appropriate for an issue of such importance. Catalonia’s referendum law, passed on September 6, does not set a minimum threshold of votes for the result to be valid. In theory, a small minority of the region’s electorate could trigger a declaration of independence. In such circumstances, and keeping in mind the passionately contested legality of the vote, any proclamation of an independent Catalonia would be bereft of political legitimacy.

Comparisons with referendums and acts of independence in other democracies are instructive. When Quebec voted on separation from Canada in 1995, and when Scotland voted on secession from the UK in 2014, each did so with the consent of the central government and in full accordance with the law. When the three Baltic states declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1990-91, they had every right to do so because Josef Stalin had robbed them of their statehood and freedom in the 1940s. None of these conditions applies with respect to Catalonia and Spain.

Arguably, the short-term goal of the Catalan separatists is not to issue a declaration of independence, which would be an empty rhetorical gesture, but to instigate snap regional elections with the aim of expanding the ranks of the pro-independence coalition. They may hope, too, that Mariano Rajoy, Spain’s prime minister, and his government will clamp down so hard on the secessionists that they will have a chance to paint themselves in ever louder colours as victims of political repression.

Whether or not the referendum takes place, the essential step for both sides is to open serious negotiations on an updated version of autonomy for Catalonia. A 2006 statute, approved by the Spanish and Catalan legislatures and by Catalonia’s voters in a referendum, but unwisely struck down in 2010 by the Spanish constitutional court, would be a good place to start.

Elisenda Paluzie‏ @epaluzie (https://twitter.com/epaluzie/status/909535793735139328)

Replying to @epaluzie @SentitCritic

Aquí el meu article de @SentitCritic on advertia sobre la pastanaga de l’Estatut del 2006 que ara ens ven el @FT

2017 ira. 17

El pal i les pastanagues

http://www.elcritic.cat/blogs/sentitcritic/2017/09/07/el-pal-i-les-pastanagues/

Ikus Egurra eta azenarioa (in Katalunia: Errepublika eraikitzeko legea onartua)

Aquell Estatut no ens donava tampoc reconeixement de nació amb validesa jurídica i política. Més que pastanaga, en podríem dir pastanagueta.”

Iruzurra eta tranpa prestatuta dago. Horixe da Elisenda-ri Azpeitian 2016an esan niona, Josu eta beste lagun batekin, laurok egin genuen afari batean.

Horixe da Espainiaren azken tranpa nagusia, orain FT-k aireratua: “an updated version of autonomy for Catalonia.”

Utzi erantzuna

Zure e-posta helbidea ez da argitaratuko. Beharrezko eremuak * markatuta daude