MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Catalonia separatists take control of regional parliament but short of the 50% vote targeted
Separatists in Catalonia won control of their regional parliament Sunday in an election that they vowed would set them on the road to independence from Spain. The region's nationalist president Artur Mas declared victory to a cheering crowd of flag-waving supporters after an emotional election that has heightened tensions with Madrid. Read full article
Comments
Disclaimer & comment rulesMaybe the Spanish government will concentrate more on their own internal problems instead of making their main priority Gibraltar.
Sep 28th, 2015 - 11:06 am - Link - Report abuse 0Madrid has to accept that this problem is not going to go away. The Spanish government needs to confront the problem and not continually try to hide it away behind procedural and legal manoeuvres.
Sep 28th, 2015 - 11:23 am - Link - Report abuse 0Canada faced Quebec secessionism with a referendum.
Australia faced republicanism with a referendum.
Indonesia faced East Timor secessionism with a referendum.
The UK faced Scottish secessionism with a referendum.
Ireland faced marriage equality with a referendum.
New Zealand is choosing its flag by referendum in 2016.
Spain needs to accept that this question needs asking; should the nation of Catalonia be an independent state.
@2. Check the history. By what right does “spain” have any rights over Catalonia? Self-determination, not spanish imperialist colonialism!
Sep 28th, 2015 - 01:50 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Not exactly a decisive result in favour of independence.
Sep 28th, 2015 - 03:37 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The election was framed as a referendum, however had it been a referendum, with less than 48%, they would have lost.
Having worked with Catalans for some years, they are probably pushing this simply because Madrid are telling them they can’t.
Losing their EU membership, which they would, almost certainly makes independence a non-starter.
However, anything which makes things this uncomfortable for they Francoista bastards in Madrid, has got to be good for a laugh.
Perhaps Gibraltar will get some peace now.
People are always wary of change, even if it can lead to a better situation for them.
Sep 28th, 2015 - 07:23 pm - Link - Report abuse 0It's like the 'believers' in a god, they are frightened that what we have now is all that there is and waste their time worrying about 'religion' and living in paradise until they die and then they experience 'the final disappointment' in my judgement.
Those who embrace change and move forward with their lives are always happier in the end. Try to take the change away and see what happens!
#4: “Perhaps Gibraltar will get some peace now.”
Sep 28th, 2015 - 11:43 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Doubt it. The PP have just doubled the money and resources allocated to the “Gibraltar” propaganda desk at the Exteriores..... and there are only a few weeks till the election.
They've been upping the ante with the naval incursions - to the extent of ramming the Gib Police and shooting at fishermen - to try and provoke the RGP or Royal Navy into impounding their boats or arresting them: that would be headline news in Spain and the PP would spin it as “Gibraltar causes British aggression / Spain hard done by ” etc etc in order to get the nationalist vote out.
So, we have 12 more weeks of this shit (eg - the Spanish warship that sailed past my flat this afternoon).
As to Catalonia: yes, there is a large element of
“ they are probably pushing this simply because Madrid are telling them they can’t.”
Rajoy is the secessionists' best recruitment poster-boy: but at the end of the day, the vote in Catalonia - were it permitted - would be pretty straight down the middle.
However, the longer the Spanish Govt (and the PSOE are nearly as bad as the PP here) delay or oppose a referendum, the more likely secession is.
while the Uk has not even built a mile of fast speed train, Spain has built
Sep 29th, 2015 - 02:09 pm - Link - Report abuse 03.100 km, longest in Europe.An example is the new Fast train (AVE) arch bridge being built in Caceres, Spain...this is the modern Spain that is not normally seen.....ummmmmm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0Pw9AFhn3Y
#7
Sep 29th, 2015 - 04:13 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Three mighty Huzzahs for Spain !
What has this got to do with Catalonias referendum ? Diversion seems to be your only tactic.
@ 6 sceptic64
Sep 29th, 2015 - 05:11 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I think we will see a different response from the UK after the Spanish elections are over, if it is still required.
For the moment it is better, if possible, not to do anything which would help this government in the elections.
At the very least the Catalans will end up screwing more money out of Madrid, even if they don’t succeed and bankrupt the country altogether, either way we shall see then how much money they have left over for other projects.
The reason, in my view, there is not an overwhelming majority in favour of separation is because of the EU membership issue, and that is not going to change anytime soon.
They know life would be much harder for them outside the EU and Catalans are business minded pragmatic people, in my experience.
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