Because of lack of time I feel I never have time to explain everything that I would like to talk about in the blog but feel that twitter is too short. This is intended to be a little weekely-ish summary of the, in my opinion, most relevant news on the Catalan independence process now that we have entered its final phase after the Declaration of Sovereignty passed by the Catalan Parliament a few days ago.
Feb 12th – Spanish Parliament passed a Popular Law Initiative [ca] which intends to declare bullfighting as a protected cultural heritage within Spain and this would cancel the ban on that activity in Catalonia declared by the Catalan Parliament. Even though bullfighting shows are subsidized in Catalonia because of the low turnout.
Feb 12th – Mariano Rajoy replied to a question by an international journalist about whether he thought he would be able to keep Catalonia in Spain without changing the current Spanish model. Rajoy replied :“don’t worry, I will” [ca]. Considering that everything Rajoy promises tends to go wrong I think this is excellent news.
Feb 11th – Spanish foreign minister has let the UN secretary for Western Sahara that they support Western Sahara’s right to self determination [ca]. Western Sahara’s right to self-determination yes, Catalonia’s no.
Feb 11th – EuroParliament VicePresident Alexander Álvaro has declared to Catalan radio RAC1 that Spain should let Catalans vote on independence [ca]. Even though, personally, he doesn’t understand why Catalans want independence he said it’s not very useful for Madrid’s government to try to stop what people want.
Feb 8th – The Spanish Government will take Catalonia’s Declaration of Sovereignty to the Spanish Constitutional Court. The same court that was used politically to cut the Catalan Statute of Autonomy will be now used to attack the document that declares that Catalonia is a sovereign political entity [ca].
Feb 05th – Business Association “Foment del Treball” fail in their attempt to organise a Catalan anti independence business lobby [ca]. Other Business Associations like PIMEC or Cercle Català de Negocis have recently shown most Catalan business owners support independence and almost none want to keep the status quo.