03.10.2014 - 11:52
The damning editorial published by Bloomberg, the leading financial news agency, on Spain’s mishandling of Catalonia’s independence consultation campaign, is no exception. Other news and op-ed articles sharply critical of the stance taken by Spanish President Mariano Rajoy regarding Catalonia have appeared just this week. On Monday, the Spanish government challenged Catalonia’s planned independence consultation vote with two appeals before the Constitutional Court, effectively suspending both the legal framework and the decree underpinning the vote until the court issues a ruling on the matter.
La Jornada: ‘The Spanish state against Catalonia’
In an example of the international criticism levelled against president Rajoy on this issue, Mexico’s progressive daily La Jornada ran an op-ed with the title ‘The Spanish State Against Catalonia’. The article’s rebuke stems from the Spanish Constitutional Court’s decision to review ‘with a speed that only serves to evidence its [the court’s] political subordination’ the Spanish government’s challenge ‘against measures that underlie the exercise of democracy: the popular consultation act approved by the Catalan parliament and the Catalan government’s decree calling a plebiscite on the political future of the as-of-yet autonomous community’.
According to this newspaper, ‘perhaps unwittingly, Spain’s government has exposed the undemocratic nature of the current constitution and of Spain itself, bringing into focus the contrast between such intolerance and close-mindedness and the example of civic engagement offered only a few days ago in Scotland’.
Rajoy’s policies, according to the op-ed, have serious consequences because “the institutional relationship between Madrid and Barcelona has reached an impasse in which everyone loses.”
‘Let the Catalans vote’
The Constitutional Court’s actions also prompted an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times, written by university professor William Cole. The title of the article asks whether ‘Spain and Catalonia’s marriage can be saved’, and also offers the answer, ‘Let the Catalans vote’.
Speaking from the experience of having lived in Catalonia for the past twenty years, Cole, who is originally from New York, highlights the many differences between Scotland and Catalonia, both in their social and political make-up and in the way the secessionist process has been handled.
Regarding Catalonia, Cole points out that, although the secessionist sentiment was not mainstream as recently as a few years ago, ‘the landscape has changed dramatically since the financial crisis began several years ago’.
Despite the marked differences vis-à-vis Scotland, the author does see a possible solution to the Catalan issue in the 18 September referendum: It was ‘a great moment in European history. Not because the Scots decided against independence, but because the Scots decided for themselves, in democratic and transparent fashion. The Catalans — and the Western liberal democratic tradition — deserve no less’.
More info on this issue:
Bloomberg asks Rajoy to go to Catalonia and acknowledge his mistakes
