Spain Undermines Catalonia’s Rights

The feelings of the Catalans today can be summarized in two words, hope and anxiety. Hope for a new future, anxiety in the face of the current situation and of an unknown future.

In this path to obtaining complete freedom two elements are shaping the process: the economic issues and Spain’s dirty tactics.

Catalonia does not exist in economic isolation and has little capacity to make economic decisions by itself, as it is linked to the economies of Spain, Europe, and the world. Catalonia has an annual deficit cap imposed by the European Union which is affected by Spain’s decisions –without taking into account the budget cuts effected so far. It has economic structures which in some cases are weak and would require strengthening in order to grow the economy, stabilize companies, and get the unemployment rate to reasonable levels. Companies have no liquidity to meet the expenses they face. There is a growing fear among employers of losing their net worth as they are being forced to constantly making personal financial contributions to their own businesses. With all this in mind, there is a need for a common effort to boost cash flow and generate economic growth.


Spain, instead of trying to help, is trying to stop Catalans from exercising the right of self-determination, which is causing countless problems. Spain does not realize that it is creating a problem for itself due with their nationalistic short-sightedness. They have been trying to scare Catalans by exacerbating the feeling of economic hardship and they have ended up scaring all Spaniards. Money does not circulate. People are generally not buying much. There are exceptions, but these are not enough to get the wheel of the economy moving. There is a real financial crisis and a psychological crisis too. With erratic and irresponsible statements made by mediocre politicians, the Spanish government has managed to make people fear for their future.


Spain stifles Catalonia's economy with an unfair financing system as it is condemning it to a lack of infrastructures and to having to wait again and again for monthly payments which are based on an annual calculation made by the Spanish government itself. The Spanish government has assigned the medical and social costs amongst the autonomic regions but is not freeing up the source of income. It holds the key to the cash box and also imposes an excessive solidarity contribution towards some so-called poor regions.
Now the Spanish government contemplates that the deficit must be flexible according to each autonomous community because it has realized that if Spanish nationalism kills the goose that lays the eggs, i.e. Catalonia, everyone in the state will have to tighten their belts.


Another element that distorts the situation on a daily basis is the constant nationalistic propaganda, by which Catalonia is presented as unsupportive and selfish, even attacking Catalonia’s leaders with alleged corrupt activities which are never proven. But never mind this, their goal is to increase discontent.

Catalonia demands that its leaders act responsibly, that society gets involved, and that Spain stops leading Spanish society to a collective suicide in its attempt to defeat the Catalans.

Jordi Colomines

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Elite of Economists and Jurists in Validate an Independent Catalonia

One of the odd things about the pro-sovereignty process in Catalonia is the almost unanimous support from the elite of Catalan economists—which practically means the Spanish elite—to the process.

That is what Carlos Sánchez says in online newspaper El Confidencial (18/09/13). A great deal of the best and most influential economists in the country, and of course those with the greatest international projection, support the process, and they are obviously well-informed.

It is the Economy Departments at the Universities of Harvard, Chicago, London, Columbia, Stanford and Pompeu Fabra is Barcelona who are supplying real intellectual firepower that has proven invincible, not only concerning the quantification of the Catalan fiscal deficit with Spain, but also concerning the economic feasibility of a hypothetically independent Catalan state. And it is not just economists, but also renowned legal experts who support the possibility of an independent Catalonia.

But who are these relevant people who support the idea of the viability of the Catalan independence? Let's take a look:

The Wilson Initiative (honouring US President Woodrow Wilson, who defended nations' right to self-determination). All of them are Economists.


- Xavier Sala-i-Martin, the J&M Grossman Professor of Economic Development at Columbia N.Y, earned his Ph.D. in Economics at Harvard.

- Pol Antràs, a Harvard Economics Professor, earned his Ph.D. at the MIT.

- Carles Boix, the Robert Garrett Professor of Politics and Public Affairs at Princeton, graduated in Law and in History at Barcelona, earning his Ph.D. in Government at Harvard.

- Jordi Galí, the Director of the Centre for Research in International Economics (CREI), is a Professor at Pompeu Fabra and Research Professor at Barcelona GSE. He obtained his Ph.D. at the MIT under the supervision of Olivier Blanchard, the Chief Economist at the IMF


- Gerard Padró is a Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science and co-director of the Governance, Accountability and Political Economy research programme at the International Growth Centre. He obtained his PhD at the MIT

- Jaume Ventura, a Senior Researcher at the CREI, is a Professor at Pompeu Fabra and Associate Professor at Barcelona GSE. He obtained his PhD at Harvard and has taught at the MIT and at Chicago.


You'll find summaries of each here: http://wilson.cat/en/qui-som/el-col-lectiu.html



Because the sovereignty process in Catalonia spans right across the ideological divide, it sees Jordi Galí, a Neo-Keynesian, working together with a libertarian like Xavier Sala-i-Martin.

At a more institutional level, support for sovereignty is complemented by the Catalan National Transition Advisory Board (CATN) that counts among its ranks several award-winning experts such as:

- Núria Bosch, a Professor at Barcelona and one of the most acknowledged experts in the country in fiscal federalism and inter-territorial fiscal balances.

- Germà Bel is a Professor at Barcelona and a visiting professor at at the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton.

- Carles Boix, as mentioned above, also a member of the Wilson Initiative

- Ferran Requejo, a Professor of Political Science at Pompeu Fabra Barcelona

- Carles Viver Pi-Sunyer, the Board's Chair, a former Vice-President of the Constitutional Court and a renowned legal jurist.

- Joan Vintró, a Professor of Constitutional Law at Barcelona



The intellectual economic and legal arsenal associated with the pro-sovereignty cause, or at least with the right to decide in a referendum, does not end here.

The Advisory Board for Economic Reactivation and Growth is Catalan President Mas' advisory body for economic issues. Among its members are amongst others:


- Salvador Alemany, the President of the Board, would probably not count himself in as pro-independence, but the fact the President of Abertis, a major Spanish infrastructure management company, fully supports the feasibility of Catalonia as an independent state and agrees "fully", in his own words, with the Catalan Minister of Economy, Mr. Mas-Colell, is significant.


- Germà Bel, as mentioned above, is also a member of the CATN

- Jordi Gual, the Chief of the Research Department at La Caixa, the major Catalan bank

- Joan B. Casas, the President of the Catalonia Economists' Association

- Guillem López Casasnovas, a Counsellor at the Bank of Spain. Not openly pro- independence, but scathingly critical of the policies of the Spanish Governments concerning Catalonia

Xavier Vives, King Juan Carlos award in Economy


Marta Espasa, Ph D. in Economic Science, a Specialist in Public Economy, Autonomic and Local funding and fiscal balances

Oriol Amat, Ph. D. in Economic Sciences at Barcelona Autonomous Univ. he is a Professor of Financial Economics and Accounting at Pompeu Fabra Barcelona. He is the Chairman of ECIF (Expert Economists in Accountancy & Financial Information) and the VP of the Catalan Accounting Association. He is also a board member of the National Stock Exchange Commission.



And that's not to mention two notables such as the last two Ministers of Economy of the Catalan Government—the current minister Andreu Mas-Colell, who was a Professor at Harvard for 15 years and whose name was mentioned as a possible Economy Nobel prizewinner, and the Professor in Public Revenue Antoni Castells, his predecessor—who have both openly embraced sovereignty.


It is obvious that not everybody in the lists above are not wholly in favour of Catalan independence—a significant majority are, however. But in any case, none of them have shown opposition to the process, and of course, all of them are in favour of a referendum.

There is a good fistful of the most renowned intellectuals in Spain—Catalans it is true—in favour of independence. Of course there will be also people against, but this doesn't reduce the value of this group. At least they openly support a referendum and the feasibility of an independent Catalonia.


Opposing all the above, on the side of unionism, there is basically insults, threats, bald pressure and disparagement, mostly in very general terms, and sometimes outright insulting.

No wonder this correlation of forces and the non-existent capacity of argumentation of the side of Spanish unionism, the pro-independence movement does not cease to grow in Catalonia.




Àlex Furest

Economist

 

 

 

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The airport without planes

Castellon airport, the airport without planes, paid 82,000 Euros annually for the services of a falconer

Castelló airport was opened with fanfare by the former president of Valencia, Mr. Francisco Camps, and the president of the Diputació de Castelló, Mr. Carlos Fabra (both from the Spanish Popular Party) on March 2011.

However, with a cost of about 150 million Euros and managed by the public society Aerocas, it has yet to see a plane either landing or taking off.

Now we have been aware that an empty airport had on its payroll a falconer at a cost of 82.000 Euros per year. The falconer Fernando Olmos, responsible for the company “Arte Falcon”, which also manages services for the airports of Tenerife and La Palma, was paid that amount to monitor an empty airport.

The news has seen the light because Mr. Olmos has been accused by the Guardia Civil for the smuggling of endangered and protected species and the falsification of the corresponding documentation and certificates.

This is yet another example of the misuse of public resources by the Popular Party governments of Valencia and Castelló.

http://www.elsingulardigital.cat/cat/notices/2013/07/un_falconer_cobrava_82.000_per_vigilar_l_aeroport_buit_de_castello_95261.php

http://elpais.com/elpais/2011/03/25/actualidad/1301044646_850215.html

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Advocacy of violence on Spanish TV Intereconomía

Mr. Pedro Pablo Peña, the president of Alianza Nacional (National Alliance), a far-right political party, publicly defended the fascist attacks on the premises of the Catalan Government in Madrid of September 11th on Spanish TV program El gato al agua broadcast by the Intereconomía channel, stating “We support the action. It is not illegal to enter the premises of the Catalan Government, what is illegal is to stage a separatist event”.


Mr. Peña noted that this was the path to take to respond to the increasing separatism in Spain and took the example of the Ulster Unionists fight against the IRA. He said further that “there were no injuries or deaths”.


Iñaki Anasagasti, a Member of the Spanish Senate for the Basque PNB party, who was participating in the program on the phone and who had witnessed the events first-hand, replied that was not true. “The assailants were aggressive, pushed the people around and smacked a young woman on the face”. When Mr. Anasagasti hung up, Mr. Peña went on to accuse him of being a supporter of Basque terrorists ETA.


The show's anchor, Mr. Javier Algarra, never tried to cut Mr. Peña’s hate speech at any time during the program.

Source: El Singular Digital

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The Vice of Incoherence: Western Sahara, Yes. Catalonia, No.

In democracy one of the most common vices is incoherence. When a politician says or does two obviously contradictory things this politician is being incoherent. This is what Mariano Rajoy, Spanish Prime Minister, has just done in his speech to the UN General Assembly in New York when defending the self-determination of Western Sahara, while he is repeatedly denying this same right to the people of Catalonia.


Coherence would be to either deny or defend this right in both cases. The right of self-determination is recognised in the UN Charter. It is not a conditional right, as some argue, only acceptable in processes of decolonisation, but a political right of all peoples in the world, whatever the conditions of their existence might be - as the case of the independence of Norway from Sweden in 1905, Slovenia and Croatia from Yugoslavia and Baltic countries from the USSR in 1990s or Slovakia in 1992 prove. If one accepts this recognition, one has to support it abroad and at home. If one does not honestly accept this recognition, one can just use it for political gain, depending on the context and, if so it's needed, contradictorily.


Incoherence is a vice because it is dishonest. It is the product of an insincere and unprincipled association with an idea - normally a widely respected principle - for personal profit. As in Spain, it seems that this vice enjoys wide acceptance and toleration by the political elites and the populations of many democratic countries. This fact makes more pressing the need to denounce it and fight it at home and abroad, in domestic politics and, perhaps even more insistenly, in international relations.


It is only by this dishonesty that the Spanish government can try to stop the very coherent, democratic and peaceful process of independence of Catalonia. For this process is not only the way of a community of people to survive as such, as a historic, cultural, political and socio-economic community. It is also the way this community is expressing its ethos, with honesty, and, so coherence, at its core. It is the Catalan Way.


On this way, millions of European people have started a journey towards emancipation. Self-determination is a principle, not a compromise. It is not a political tool one uses according to the situation at hand, but a right of any community to be able to exist. Its defence is coherent. Its attack is coherent. Both things simultaneously is not.


The same way one chooses between coherence or incoherence, the governments of other countries have now just two options. Either to support Rajoy's attempts to derail democracy using dishonest means or support all these people on their way, wishing them safe travels and that they reach their destination, whichever this might be, provided they travel in peace and truthfulness. This will be the coherent response of a responsible international community.





Alejandro Ribó

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Constitutional Court Judge Violates Constitution

Unbelievable but true, the president of the Spanish Constitutional Court Francisco Perez de los Cobos, publicly admitted recently that he had been a member of the governing Popular Party while a magistrate of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court in Spain, specifically between 2008 and 2011. He took the oath as a Constitutional Court magistrate on 29 December 2010.


Spanish law bans party membership for judges and magistrates. By law, appointment for such a position while being an active member of any political party is considered incompatible. This is because it may jeopardise the judge's impartiality with justice thus losing its essence.


This principle is established in Article 127 of the Constitution, in Article 395 of the Organic Law of the Judiciary, and in Article 19 of the Law ruling the Constitutional Court (LOTC): "Judges and magistrates may not belong to political parties while they are active". Moreover, the same Article 19 of the LOTC says that in case of incompatibility, the judge should cease their incompatible activity, and in case this does not occur within 10 days, it shall be understood that he does not accept the appointment as magistrate the court assigned.


How can it be then, that a judge of the Constitutional Court (the supreme interpreter of the Spanish Constitution), has been an active member of a political party for more than a year without being removed from his position? What's more, how is it he has made it public and has not been removed yet?

 

 

 

 

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Unemployment Rates in an Independent Catalonia

1. Present unemployment rates both in Catalonia and Spain


The Spanish economy has always had high unemployment rates of about 15% on average. Therefore Spain is the country with the highest unemployment rate in Europe by a wide margin. Spain also holds the record of unemployment rate for under 25 year olds. The lowest unemployment rates within Spain are those in the autonomous regions who manage their own taxes.


Unemployment in Catalonia has followed a similar pattern to that of Spain even though it has always been lower. Catalonia’s unemployment, anyway, has been getting closer to the Spanish one and the difference between them has been narrowing. By the end of the 90s there was a difference of 4 percentage points, but since 2001 they differ by just 2 percent. The relative difference is getting closer because of fiscal plundering and because Catalonia lacks the tools to improve its economy, which is quite different from the centralist oriented Spanish economy. As a result of this, unemployment is higher now in Catalonia than it is in Montenegro, Palestine (West Bank), Croatia, or Georgia. On the other hand, unemployment in European countries that became independent in recent times is much lower now than it is in Catalonia.


Youth unemployment in Catalonia is now at 43%. Catalan youngsters do not deserve all the unfair hardship and desperation we are putting on them. This lack of jobs is forcing many of them to emigrate in order to find jobs somewhere else.

2. Unemployment rate calculation in an independent Catalonia


The foreseen unemployment for an independent Catalonia can be calculated in three different ways:


2.1 Statistical Model


The statistical analysis of the data from OCDE can determine which are the most relevant variations that have an impact on a country’s unemployment rate. By applying such statistical methods to these significant variations, a statistical model can be revealed. With the application of this model on Catalonia’s economic data the resulting unemployment rate for an independent Catalan state would be between 6% and 7%.


2. 2.2 Mathematical Model


There is a direct mathematical ratio between the public expenses of country and its GDP. In a Catalan state, the absence of fiscal plundering will certainly allow higher public expenses. By applying the method of autoregressive values (Pons and Tremosa, 2002) on a Catalonia free of fiscal plundering, one can predict its unemployment rate. According to this method, for each 1% of GDP invested in the public sector, the GDP will grow by 0,52% and employment by 0,29%. Such an effect is distributed decreasingly during five years as time goes by. So, if all fiscal deficit was invested in Catalonia, about 400,000 jobs could be created and unemployment rate would drop from 22% to 12%.


2. 2.3 Comparative Method


By looking at the unemployment rates of other countries with similar economies as Catalonia, one can infer also the unemployment rate for an independent Catalan state. The great majority of countries with a GDP/capita similar to that of Catalonia have less than 10% unemployment rate.



3. Conclusions


By comparing these three methods, we can conclude that unemployment rates in an independent Catalonia would most probably be around 12% and would therefore be similar to that of other European countries.


One final bit of data and a thought: a decent salary (€30,000 net per year) for 350,000 unemployed Catalans adds up to €10.5bn, which is 60% of €17,600m, the total fiscal deficit in 2010.

 

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European Citizens’ Initiative for the minorities in Europe launched

On the initiative of the Hungarian minority in Romania –FUEN-member “Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania” (RMDSZ) and supported by the “South Tyrolean People’s Party” (SVP) – FUEN-member from South Tyrol – the idea of engaging in a European Citizens’ Initiative for the minorities in Europe was launched. At the 2011 FUEN Congress in Eisenstadt/Željezno the idea was unanimously endorsed by the FUEN-members.


At this moment negotiations are going on about the practical implementation of the European Citizens’ Initiative of the minorities.


The European Citizens’ Initiative is an instrument of direct democracy in the European Union that was introduced with the Lisbon Treaty. Since 1 April 2012 citizens have the chance to use it.


The citizens’ initiative enables citizens of the EU to ensure that the European Commission will deal with a specific issue.


With statements of support from at least one million EU citizens, from at least seven Member States, the Commission can be called upon to propose a legal act on a subject for which measures have to be taken according to the initiators. The citizens of the Union are put on a same footing as the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, who enjoy this right according to Article 225 and Article 241 TFEU.

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Why does Catalonia need to hold a referendum on self determination? by Rocío Martínez-Sampere

Why does Catalonia need to hold a referendum on self determination? by Catalonia's Member of Parliament Rocio Martínez.

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The Catalan Way certified a record!

 

The Official World Record (OWR) certified the Catalan Way this week as the longest and the largest human chain in the European Union (over 2,000,000 people). Thus, the figures that the Spanish Minister Mr. Fernández Diaz gave (just over 400,000 people) were beyond impossible, they were ridiculous.

 

 

 

 

The OWR considered that the figure of 1,600,000 people was just under the actual figure. It also emphasised that only in Barcelona there were over 500,000 people, much more along the 400 kilometre (250 mile) Catalan Way which was in certain stretches tripled, and in urban areas the turnout was even higher. That is the reason why the OWR has certified that the Catalan Way had over 2,000,000 participants, well over that of the Baltic Way. We must point out all the figures from the Catalan regional Interior Department, the traffic collapse, the huge amount of tweets and the enormous audience of the Catalan national television’s (TV3) coverage of the event.


The Catalan Way will go down in history as a record: the hugest in the European Union. A peaceful way of over 400 kilometres.


These figures come to light while from the Kingdom of Spain aggressive, violent attitudes keep appearing over and over again: the attack on the Catalan Government Delegation in Madrid, the attack on the fire brigade in the city of Mataró, who had expressed their support for Catalan independence, and much more.

 

 

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