Catalonia plans international football match with the USA

Catalan Regional Government in favour of football match between Catalonia and the US

The Catalan regional government has encouraged the Catalan football team to play a friendly match against the US on 14th October despite the fact that the regional team has not received official approval from the Spanish Football Federation. If the match is held, it will be the first time an autonomous region fields its own team against another country in an international friendly.

Anna Pruna, the Catalan Secretary for Sport has defended the decision saying that her department had the right to take such decisions and confirmed that Jordi Roche, the President of the Catalan Football Federation had travelled to Chicago to meet with US football officials.

According to Anna Pruna, conversations with members of the US football Federation have already taken place and there don’t appear to be any reasons against playing a friendly match. She also said that the Catalan Football Federation had the backing of the Catalan Regional Government. Furthermore, she added that television rights had already been sold and the dates for the match had been approved by FIFA.

Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya said that if the match goes ahead without authorisation it would become more significant. Joan Laport, the President of Barcelona football club has also become involved in this issue which has become embroiled in Catalan politics.

Extremadura challenges new Andalucian Statute

President of Extremadura questions the legality of the new Andalucian statute

Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra, the President of Extremadura, has announced that he will go before the Constitutional Court to question the jurisdiction of the new Andalucian Statute when it comes into effect regarding control over the Guadalquivir river which runs through Extremadura.

He claims that the new Andalucian statute should not have any legal rights over control of the river which runs through both regions, despite an article contained in the new statue which says that it does. President Rodríguez Ibarra told journalists that the Spanish Constitution categorically states that rivers which run through various regions are the sole responsibility of the State - 8 % of the Guadalquivir river runs through Extremadura while the other 92% runs through Andalucia.

Furthermore Ibarra, one of Spain's longest serving and most outspoken regional presidents, said that while he remained president of Extremadura he had no intention to modify his region’s statute, although future presidents could do what they liked.
Meanwhile, a minister for the Andalucian regional government, Gaspar Zarrías responded to Rodriguez Ibarra's declarations, saying that he fully defends the constitutionality of the Andalucan Statute and regrets the attitude taken by the Extremaduran president.

In a press conference in the Andalucian Parliament he stated that Ibarra was wrong on this occasion. According to Gaspar Zarrías the Andalucian Autonomus Statute which was approved in a referendum last Sunday is completely constitutional and marks a before and after in the regional reforms that are taking place within the country.

Elections in Catalonia

CIU wins Catalonian Regional Elections.

Convergencia i Union, the moderate Catalan separatist party won yesterday's election in Catalonia, although the victory was not big enough for the party to form government. The result represents an important reverse for the Catalonian Socialist Party (PSC) which has governed for the past three years together with two minor left-wing separatist parties, ERC and ICV-EUiA in the coalition government known as the tripartito which has secured increased autonomy and a new constitution for Catalonia.

This was the third time the Catalans have been called to vote in the past three years, and the low turn-out reflected the feelings of a weary electorate. The last regional elections were just three years ago, and earlier this year voters were asked to vote in a referendum on the proposed reforms in the Catalan statute. Yesterday les than 57 percent of the electorate participated in the elections, the second lowest turn-out in the history of Catalonian regional elections.

CiU increased its number of seats in the regional parliament by 2, from 46 to 48, while the PSC lost 5 seats. ERC and the Popular Party also lost one seat each, while the other minor separatist party ICV-EUiA gained 3 seats and a new anti-separatism political party called Ciutadans de Catalunya (Citizens of Catalonia) formed just before the elections won a surprising 3 seats.

The leader of Convergencia i Union, Artur Mas, said last night that his party would start negotiating with other parties to form a coalition government. The only party he has ruled out as a possible partner in a coalition government is the Popular Party.


Related:
Congress debates new Statute for Catalonia
Breakthrough in talks for new Catalan Statute

Demonstration in favour of self determination for the Basque Country

Thousands of demonstrators marched through the streets of San Sebastian to show their support for Basque self determination yesterday afternoon. Although Batasuna, the banned Basque separatist party in favour of complete independance, had been prevented from organizing the march many of its leaders were present.

It was unclear whether the demonstration would be allowed to go ahead until the last minute. Howver, it finally started at 6pm following a slight delay due to some minor incidents between demonstrators and the Ertaintza (the Basque Police).

Mariano Rajoy, the president of the PP was strongly opposed to allowing the demonstration to take place because he considered it to to have been organized by Batasuna who he believes has close ties with the terrorist organization ETA.

The march coincided with the first day of San Sebastian's fiestas known as 'Semana Grande', one of the busiest days for tourism in San Sebastian.

Articles related to Basque indpendence:
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2005 election results in Basque Country
Basque nationalism

Resources related to the Basque country:
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San Sebastian
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Catalans support increased autonomy

Low turn-out in the referendum held in Catalonia, Spain.

Just under 50 percent of voters took part in the referendum to determine Catalan support for the proposed reform which will give Catalonia increased autonomous power. The result, with nearly 74 percent in favour of the new Statute and just over 24 percent against, was a clear victory for the parties backing the "yes" vote. Both the Popular Party and the ERC Catalan Republican Separatist Party had, for different reasons, urged their voters to vote against the new Statute in the campaign leading up to the referendum.

However, despite the clear result, the low turnout out enabled the losing parties to emphasise low participation rather than talk about the result. The last referendum held in Catalonia was in 1979 when Catalans were asked to express their opinion about the statute of autonomy which was passed then and which, on the basis of the result of yesterday's referendum, will be replaced by the new one after the next regional elections. Amost 60 percent of catalan voters participated in the 1979 referendum, although given the fact that it was held just four years after Franco's death and so the right to vote was still very recent for Spaniards, the turn-out then wasn't very impressive either.

The President of the Catalan coalition government Pascual Maragall told reporters that even though he would have preferred a higher level of participation, the "yes" result represented a clear victory for the Government and for Catalonia. And Carod Rovira, the controversial leader of ESC said he accepted the result, but that the whole referendum had been carried out according to the style and arguments of national politics which, in his opinion, was bound to compromise the final result. The ERC leadership had asked voters to vote against the statute because they felt it was insufficient, although many party members probably voted in favour in the end. Mariano Rajoy, leader of the Popular Party who had supported the no vote in order to preserve the unity of Spain, rather predictably used his press conference to urge Rodriguez Zapatero to halt the whole process of increased autonomy. And CIU leader Artur Mas, who many predict will be the next President of Catalonia, celebrated the result and said it was now time to work towards the election of a strong government.

Related:
Congress debates new Catalan Statute
Breakthrough in talks over new statute for Catalonia
Get to know Catalonia:
Guide to Barcelona
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Breakthrough in talks for a new statute for Catalonia, Spain

This weekend President Zapatero appears to have broken the stalemate in which all parties involved in negotiations for increased Catalan autonomy had found themselves for the past month. In what may turn out to be a surprisingly astute move, the Spanish president met with leaders of the moderate CIU Catalan party (moderate, that is, compared with the increasingly radical Esquerra Republicana) and managed to get them to compromise on two key issues which had been source of contention between Catalan separatists and most members of all the other parties of the Spanish national parliament.

The first was the word "nation". The proposal for a new statute presented by all Catalan parties (except the PP whose members remain firmly opposed to any constitutional change in Spain and terribly critical of the Government's policies which, they claim, are "disloyal" to the Spanish state) described Catalonia as a "Nation state" throughout all clauses, which caused an uproar among Spanish mainstream political parties, including many members of the governing socialist party. It also lead to some key military leaders to criticise the process and one general even went as far to say that if the Spanish national constitution was ever threatened, it was the duty of the army to protect it.

Despite the fierce criticism, until now the Catalan socialists and all indpendentist parties had defended their "right" to call Catalonia a nation. But in their meeting with the Spanish president this weekend CIU leaders agreed to modify the text, and refer to Catalonia as "a nation of Spain" in the atricles of the new statute. Catalonia will be described as a "nation" in the introduction but, apparantly, because it is not included as such in the actual articles, this will have no legal significance.

The second big compromise is on fiscal policy. The Catalan separatists were demanding total control over all taxes - income and VAT - aswell as local taxes. This weekend Zapatero proposed a 50/50 solution, whereby central government will administer half of the money generated by income and VAT taxes, and the Catalan government will administer the other half. And this was accepted by the Catalans.

Last night members of the Socialist party expressed their satisfaction with the new agreement, even colourful members such as the President of Extremadura who had strongly condemned the Catalan proposal for a new statute from the moment it was presented to Congress. Last night he told reporters the agreement reached this weekend was a victory for non-nationalists in Spain.

Meanwhile the leader of the Esquerra Republicana, Carod Rovira, said his party would not support the modifications to the text.

Infact this may turn out to be in Zapatero's in the long term. With Esquerra Republicana becoming portrayed more and more as extremists in the Spanish media, the more moderate CIU (who in the past have enjoyed the balance of power in both PSOE and PP national governments) are again gaining ground within Catalunya. And if the Statute is finally approved by Congress with the abstention of the Popular Party and the Catalan left wing separatists, it will be much more difficult for the PP to sustain its claims that Zapatero's government is in the hands of Catalan extremists. It also might be quite an embarrassment for the respective party leaders, Mariano Rajoy and Carod Rovira, who have spent the past two years insulting eachother, to suddenly find themselves voting for the same thing.

So against all odds, at least this morning, it looks like for the first time since what many see as the "pandora's box" of Catalan autonomy was opened, José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero may have (for the moment) gained control of the situation. Although, of course, as is often the case in Spanish politics, it is impossible to predict for how long this will remain the case.

Related:
Support for Spain's government slides away
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Zapatero announces constitutional reform in Spain

Congress debates new Catalan Statute

The leaders of all main Catalan political parties attended yesterday’s long debate in Spain's parliament about whether or not to admit for discussion the proposal of the Catalan government for a new statute giving the region greater autonomous powers.

The whole issue has further divided the two main streams of Spanish politics. The Spanish president, José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, has given the statute his support, (pending some modifications concerning the fiscal system), whereas the Popular Party claims the Catalan initiative infringes constitutional law and that as such it would be impossible for the Spanish congress to pass the statute without first ammending the Spanish Constitution. And by law, in order to ammend the Constitution, first parliament has to approve the ammendment by a large majority, and then the proposal must be put to the Spanish people in a referendum.

Yesterday, despite the conciliatory tone of the three Catalan leaders who presented their proposal before Congress, all three defended possibly the most controversial aspect of the estatuto: the fact that it refers to Catalonia as a “nation”. This makes Zapatero’s job of convincing public opinion even more difficult than it already is. The Popular Party argues that it is constitutionally impossible to have a nation within a nation, and since the Spanish constitution refers to Spain as a Nation, debate of a statute proposing to change an autonomous “region” into a “nation” is impossible unless the wording of the constitution is changed first and Spain becomes some sort of federal state of nations.

This is one hot potato that Zapatero is going to find hard to juggle with. He said that yesterday that some ammendments would have to be introduced into the proposal, but he insisted that the essence of the statute would remain the same and asserted that “national identity of Catalonia” was “perfectly compatible” with Article II of the Constitution which “considers Spain as the nation of all its people”.

The Spanish president looked tired during yesterday’s debate which started in the morning and went on until late evening. His speech was generally unconvincing and reflected the difficult (some would say impossible) position he is in at the moment. It contrasted sharply with the open optimism and satisfaction of the Catalans and the energetic, if not aggressive, opposition of the PP who are encouraged by latest opinion polls showing that the majority of Spaniards outside Catalonia do not approve of the statute, especially the “nation” part.

The whole concept of Spanish state is still a very sensitive issue in this still relatively young democracy, and despite the president’s boast that his government is not afraid of debate or reform, a lot of Spaniards secretly are very wary of constitutional reform, especially if it touches on sensitive issues. Many Spaniards from the rest of Spain regard Catalonian politics with a mixture of suspicion and unease, relations between Madrid and Barcelona have always been strained, and the leader of the Catalan Separatist Party, Carod Rovira, is very unpopular throughout mainstream Spain. Rodriguez Zapatero may end up having to pay a high price for his firm defence of the ambitious aims of his Catalan allies, upon whom the stability of his government majority depends.

In the end, after over 10 hours of heated debate, Congress voted to accept the Catalan Statute for further discussion, by 197 votes to 146. Only the Popular Party voted against. The plan will now be passed onto the constitutional committee, where it is expected to be amended over the next two months.

Basque nationalists win narrow victory in regional elections

Regional elections in Spain.

The Basque nationalist PNV-EA alliance won the elections held in the Basque Region yesterday, but only by a small margin, losing their overall majority. PNV-EA won 29 seats (4 less than in the previous elections), the Socialists came second with 18 seats (an increase of 5 seats), the Popular Party third with 15 seats (compared to 19 in the last elections). The controversial PCTV won an unprecedented 9 seats.

Although Ibarretxe was defiant in his victory speach yesterday, the results are a blow to his party and to his plan for greater autonomy in the Basque region. The regional president repeatedly insinuated that if the Basques gave him their vote in these elections, they would in effect be endorsing Ibarretxe Plan. But what has infact happend is that the PNV-EA have lost 4 seats in the Basque parliament and for the first time in democratic history, the Socialist and Popular Parties have more seats together than the nationalist party and, in theory, could form a minority government together although, given the profound distance and mistrust which exists between them in national politics at the moment, this is unlikely.

Last night both PNV and the Basque socialists claimed victory, but the real surprise of these elections was the low turnout (Basques usually turn out in large numbers to vote in the regional elections, but participation yesterday dropped from 79 percent in 2001 to 69 percent) and the performance of the new Basque Communist Party. The Batasuna party, outlawed because of its ties with ETA, urged its supporters to back the PCTV and yesterday, the communist nationalists outperformed Batasuna's results of 2001 when ETA's political wing won 7 seats.

Prior to the Basque elections, another new policital party, Aukera Guztiak, was banned from participating because of alleged links to Batasuna. When the banned party and Batasuna then encouraged their voters to vote for PCTV, the PP urged Rodriguez Zapatero to force a ban on the communist party, but after holding an investigation, Spain's state lawyers and Fiscal ruled that it was impossible to prove links between the communists and outlawed Batasuna. Spain's Vice President said that in a democratic state, political parties could not be banned from participating in democratic elections on the basis of suspicion. Last night the Popular Party, following its first major setback in Basque elections in recent years, launched a furious attack at the Socialist government, claiming that thanks to the Socialists, ETA were the real winners of these elections.

Ibarretxe could decide to form a minority government, or could even ask the communist party to join him. It is not clear at this stage which option he will pursue. Either way he is going to have to rely on the votes of the PCTV in order to push his policies through regional parliament, and even he will have to admit that his presidency of the Basque government is weaker as a result of these elections. The Basques have not given the Plan Ibarretxe the endorsement he needed to press ahead with his plan.

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Basque elections in Spain
Basque independence, parliamentary debate