Spain's Catalonia seeks brakaway referendum

Scotland's unsuccessful referendum for independence cannot be said to inspire similar movements in Europe, yet Catalonia in northeast Spain has been thinking about independence for some time and is building steam for a separatist break.

Regional authorities have set a non-binding referendum for its 5.4 million voters on Nov. 9. Its prospects for a positive vote are questionable, possibly less so than Scotland's. The Catalans' flag, a white star on a blue field on top of the yellow and red stripes of the Spanish national banner, is widely seen in Barcelona, the capital of the region.

Catalonia, with 8 million of Spain's 46 million people, is the recession-battered European Union country's most prosperous area. It has its own language, cuisine and Spain's second largest city, Barcelona, with 5 million people. Its economy, based on manufacturing, agriculture and tourism, represents 20 percent of Spain's.

The big question is whether Catalonia's prosperity can survive if it is no longer part of Spain. Its leaders think so and they are backed by nationalist movements, the Catalan National Assembly and Omnium Cultural, which have organized mass demonstrations.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is adamantly opposed to the referendum. He calls it unconstitutional and plans court action to block it. The Spanish constitution says that the whole country must vote on any secession.

The Scotland and Catalonia parallels are not exact. For one thing, Scotland was not the most prosperous part of the United Kingdom.

As with Scotland, a Catalonian secession would probably not benefit Spain as a whole, or U.S. relations with it. But this effort, in a long history of an internally divided Spain, is a European phenomenon that bears watching.

This article was published and distributed by MCT Information Services.