Fascist demonstration in Madrid before the Spanish King’s Cup Final

albert 3 Comments

Spain has authorised a fascist demonstration in Madrid before the Spanish King’s Cup Final in response (I quote) “to the expected provocations from the Basque and Catalan separatists.” This is extremely irresponsible since within the Catalan and Basque supporters there’ll be families and children. From here we want to denounce this irresponsible act and hope that the demonstration is eventually cancelled to avoid possible violent actions against the visiting supporters.

In the meantime the King himself, the Spanish President and the President of the Madrid Autonomous Community have declined attending the game.

Thanks for your support.

I already made a post about previous whistling here.

Practical guide for Spanish governments on how to increase Catalan independentism

albert 17 Comments

I have come to the conclusion that the Spanish Government are infiltrated Catalan independentists plotting to get Catalonia out of Spain as quickly as possible. You may be tempted to think I have completely lost it but it is the only conclusion I can reach after carefully analysing some of their actions in the last year only:

1- ignore all claims to negotiate a fair financial deal with the area which produces most of the exports in your state so that they can produce and export more, generate employment, increase your tax income and get you out of the crisis

2- attempt to minoritize even more their beloved language by sabotaging their educational system by attempting to enforce language segregation instead of fixing the real problems that make you score at the bottom of the PISA report

3- insist on squandering billions of public money to build the longest high speed train network in Europe which has already proven a financial disaster instead of building the mediterranean freight railway line that would boost trade and exports (as the European Union is asking (ca))

4- instead of increasing infrastructure investment in your most dynamic area to boost its economy reduce it by 45% (ca) while only reducing it on average by 24% in the rest of the state

5- plunder 8% of that area’s GDP for the last 30 years and at the same time accuse them of being the culprits of the crisis. Top it by threatening to intervene them even though they are the only ones having acted responsibly and started reducing their budget one year before you did

6- bail out Madrid’s toll roads by extending the toll road concessions of Catalan toll roads (ca). Making Catalans, who already have 67% of the toll roads in the Spanish State, pay also for Madrid’s toll roads (Catalans were already paying for Spain’s non toll roads through their taxes)

7- refuse to pay 1.4 billion euros you owe the Catalan government claiming that because of the crisis there is no money left. Immediately afterwards bail out Madrid-government controlled savings bank with 10 billion euros of taxpayers’ money.

8- sabotage Barcelona’s airport international connections to favour Madrid’s expansion using a government controlled agency, AENA. (Being, together with Portugal and Romania the exceptions to the rule in Europe, where airport competition is encouraged)

9- block international recognition of Catalan language in Europe instead of being proud of having such a cultural asset and promoting it

10- reply the increase of Catalan independentism by threatening with economic and physical violence (for example, here and here)

10- finally, get your head of state and his family members involved in several scandals within a few weeks: corruptions charges in cases involving public money, underage people getting shot while playing with guns, being caught hunting endangered species in exotic countries. And to make things worse do all of this in the midst of an unprecedented crisis when you should be closely following what is going on.

They deserve my applause. Way to go Mr Rajoy!

European Commission prioritizes happier cows to citizens’ rights?

albert Leave a comment

Through Reagrupament I find that the European Commission has already accepted 4 European Citizens’ Intitiatives but hasn’t yet decided on the EU Internal Enlargement one. Amongst the accepted ones there is one to support cows’ rights, even though these were submitted at after the EU Internal Enlargement one.

Let’s hope the European Commission quickly comes back with an answer on the EU Internal Enlargement issue since European Citizens must have a chance to make themselves heard when it comes to high level European Politics. Or will they make true the perception that the European Union is a bureaucratic institution far from its citizens?

The EU Internal Enlargement is a very important matter since it will rule about whether the states arising from a secession of an existing member state would become automatically European Union members.

It would be against the EU’s interests if Catalonia, Scotland, Flanders or Wales would be outside of the European Union once they become independent states but this is an excellent opportunity to arise awareness about this issue that in the next few years is going to occupy the European agenda.

Spain threatens to stop paying Catalan pensioners

albert 2 Comments

Mas has been talking about the possibility to unilaterally create a Catalan Tax Agency to stop the plundering in case Spain refuses to negotiate before the end of the year.

In response to this PP’s representative in Catalonia, Sánchez-Camacho, threatened yesterday in the Catalan Parliament with the possibility to stop paying Catalan pensioners.

Not only this strategy, if possible, would be despicable, because pensioners are the weakest part of a society. It is also an interesting way of showing how unattached they seem from these workers who they swear they consider Spanish and who have contributed for decades to the Spanish social security system.

However, truth is, there is no Spanish pensions fund from where pensions are payed. Current pensions are payed with a short delay with money coming from current workers’ contributions to the social security system. And Catalonia, as usual in these matters, loses from being part of Spain since it also contributes much more than it gets back.

In the likely future scenario of unfriendly confrontation between Catalonia and Spain the former would easily pay its pensions but that would not be the case for Spain. In that case, Catalonia would be able to immediately take over the pensions and even increase them. But with this they have confirmed that Spain will resort to any sort of morally dubious tactics to attempt to stop Catalonia’s independence.

Will Europe just sit and watch Spain’s financial suicide for nationalistic reasons?

albert Leave a comment

The Spanish government is using the Autonomous Communities as a smoke screen to hide their disastrous handling of the situation, and use the crisis as an excuse to give Catalonia the coup de grace, eliminate its self government and accomplish the old Spanish dream of a culturally uniform state.

Blaming the Autonomous Communities as the main culprit of the crisis is a ridiculous argument since Catalonia only holds 6.5% of the Spanish public debt while sustaining a fiscal deficit of 8% of its GDP every year without which its finances would be very different. The Catalan Government already did its homework and last year cut its budget down by 10% and has announced further 5% cut in civil servants’ salaries this year.

The Generalitat has raised a flag claiming that the State is planning to look for an excuse to intervene Catalonia by starving it from its resources, forcing the Generalitat’s bankruptcy and then coming to the “rescue”, to prove the Catalan government’s “incompetence”.

In the meantime international press and European governments are worryingly buying the Spanish government’s discourse. Instead on focusing on Spain’s real issues.

After last year’s elections it was time for Spain to reform their oversized state structure inherited from Franco’s regime which has the following traits:

  • all power centers are in Madrid with a strong breed of privileged public servants
  • economy based on former state monopolies, like Telefonica, used as employment agencies for retired politicians and their relatives with a captive market subsidizing them
  • an oversized army
  • irrational infrastructures spending
  • oversized welfare services aimed at keeping Spanish voters happy bringing an illusion of progress

All of this subsidized by the (formerly) richer Catalan countries and the funds coming from Europe. But for the last 30 years instead investing in the modernisation of its economy Spain has created the biggest real estate bubble in the world. Catalan politicians are also partly to be blamed for allowing this to happen. Now the fountain has dried up. After the draining of resources Catalan countries are in a precarious financial situation and the European funds are not flowing anymore.

But even now the Spanish fiesta goes on. Boosting Catalonia’s economy, its most dynamic area, which represents 20% of its economy and 27% of the exports, would be the only hope for the Spanish economy to get out of the crisis Spain is instead ignoring its own laws and bringing it down.

An example, this year 925 million euros are budgeted for the high speed train to Galicia, which would not even make sense in a good economy while refusing to pay Catalonia 978 million euros pending from 2008 and 2009 and announcing a cut of 45% infrastructures budget in 2012 for Catalonia compared to last year, infringing Spanish law.

But the markets are unforgiving and don’t believe that the changes Rajoy is making will put things under control. The intervention of Spain’s government is practically a matter of time.

Why this irrational behaviour?

In practice Spain does not acknowledge Catalonia as Spanish, it is instead treated as a colony from which to extract resources until depletion. It will not hesitate to sacrifice Catalonia to protect its privileges and state structures from the cold of the crisis even at the expense dooming Catalonia’s, Spain’s (and Europe’s?) economy.

Feliç Diada de Sant Jordi! Happy Saint George Day!

albert 1 Comment

Today is my favourite day of the year in Catalonia, the day of love and culture. Sant Jordi (Saint George) is the Saint Patron of Catalonia.

Thanks to this tradition April the 23rd became the World Book Day. Also, today the beautiful Palau de la Generalitat is open to the public.

Escape the office for a couple of hours buy a rose and a book to your loved one and, if the weather allows, go for a city stroll and a coffee.

Roses and books stalls in Rambla de Catalunya, Barcelona
Book Stall in Rambla de Catalunya, Barcelona
Pati dels Tarongers, Palau de la Generalitat, Barcelona (Orange Trees Yard, Palace of the Generalitat, Barcelona)

Prenent nota de l’Argentina. Nacionalitzem Catalunya.

albert Leave a comment

Sense entrar a valorar massa en profunditat la situació, l’Argentina fa alló que té tot el dret de fer amb YPF, a nacionalitzar els seus recursos. Per què? per la incompetència, mala gestió i espoliació d’aquests per part d’una empresa espanyola.

Espera, a on més a la vora nostra està passant exactament el mateix?

Ho dic perquè per si algú encara els hi té por, als espanyols, ja veieu en què ha quedat la seva “reacción contundente”. El que ha passat amb l’Argentina és exactament el mateix que faran quan el Parlament de Catalunya proclami unilateralment la independència. Res.

De veritat, només depèn de nosaltres. Ja va sent hora que nacionalitzem Catalunya. Ho dic perquè al pas que van aviat no ens quedaran ni els mobles.

Public reply to the Wall Street Journal

albert Leave a comment

This is in reply to an article published on the WSJ on April the 16th 2012: Pressure on Spain builds as bonds face key auction

First of all, Spain is not a decentralised country. Only spending is decentralised but taxes are collected by the Spanish government and then redistributed. This redistribution means that every year for the last 30 years Spain extracts 8% of Catalonia’s GDP which never comes back. This means 40% of all Catalan taxpayer’s money goes to Madrid and never comes back. Or another way of looking at it, it cost every Catalan person 2200 euros to be part of Spain in 2009. Clearly unsustainable. I explained this in more detail here.

Spain applies the same treatment to the other Catalan speaking countries: the Valencian Country and Balearic Islands. Instead of reinvesting in their most dynamic areas they impoverish them by depleting their resources. This year Spain has reduced Catalonia’s budget for infrastructures by 45% compared to last year. Even though Catalonia is responsible for 20% of Spain’s GDP and 26% of its exports only receives 10% of the infrastructures investment. At the same time Spain keep boosting their delirious nationalistic infrastructures policy by building a high speed train to Galicia.

If we look at Catalonia, its debt problem would be easily solved by stopping the resources plundering, which amounts to 16.4bn euro only in 2009. Then its 48bn euro debt would be inexistent and it would instead show a superavit.

Overall, Spanish Autonomous Communities only account for around 20% of the overall Spanish debt. In most of them they’ve had PP governments (or PSOE in the others, which also means Spanish nationalist governments). Therefore claiming that the “regions” are the culprits for the debt issue is just wanting to look for a scapegoat (Catalonia) and not acknowledging that Spanish nationalism is the only one to blame for this.

Last year Catalonia was the only Automous Community to make a budget cut, 10% of its spending, and took some very unpopular measures, like reducing Catalan Civil Servant’s salaries and cutting on healthcare and education budgets.

In the meantime Spanish Autonomous Communities are doing the opposite. Andalucía for instance, are expanding their budget for 2012. Spain hasn’t reduced Civil Servants’ salaries and amongst some of the first measures to take should be reducing the amount of Ministries that have no real job because healthcare, education or housing are responsibilities of the Autonomous Communities. Reducing spending in the military, for instance, and boosting investment in its most dynamic areas to get out of the crisis. Instead they are doing quite the opposite driven by a nationalist agenda.

Catalonia has been the only responsible entity in Spain. Therefore, painting a picture in which all the regions are culprits, is a means to achieve the end to attack Catalonia’s self government. But this has nothing to do with the crisis and will not improve Spain’s finances. It only serves to reinforce their Spanish nationalist discourse and to divert public attention from the Spanish government incompetence and the real causes of the crisis.

Sergi López’s speech at the Catalan National Assembly (with subtitles)

albert Leave a comment

Since I currently live in Germany I am also member of Catalans Abroad. A group of Catalan expats who live all around the world and who also work for Catalonia’s independence.

The other day I finished making the english subtitles of Sergi López‘s speech at the Catalan National Assembly, of which I spoke a few days ago. The subtitles are also available in French, you just have to switch on the captions option on the video for your preferred language. Highly inspirational.

Today is the 81st anniversary of the proclamation of the Catalan Republic

albert Leave a comment

“Catalans, interpretant els sentiments i els anhels del poble que ens acaba de donar el seu sufragi proclamo la República Catalana” (“Catalans, interpreting the feelings and their yearning of the people who have given us their vote I proclaim the Catalan Republic”).

It only lasted for a few days. The Catalan President Francesc Macià declared a Catalan Republic, a state within an Iberian Federation. As usual, Spain threatened military intervention and he had to back off.

Recording of his speech (sorry, no english subtitles):

And through Wikipedia I find an article on the New York Times talking about it.