Guest blog: A homage to Caledonia

In Spain unemployment has reached 5.8 million people and now stands at above 25%. The severe European economic crisis is hitting Spain hard and things are made worse by the legacy of bad economic management and planning. Spanish citizens, many of them holding university degrees, are emigrating. This is a tragedy for a country that managed to transform itself in economic and in political terms after a civil war and forty years of dictatorship (1936-1976). At the beginning of the transition to democracy, Spain adopted an open positive attitude towards the recognition of internal national diversity. This took place while Spain sought to transform its image and managed to join the European Union and NATO. However the failed ‘23-F’ coup d’état of 1981 and a second failed coup attempt in 1982 paved the way for a return to centralisation, which culminated in the 2000-2004 Popular Party neoconservative government led by Prime Minister J.M. Aznar. During that period, a Spanish consumer boycott of Catalan sparkling wine took place; a phenomenon that prompted a shift in Catalan exports by progressively opening up to international markets rather than primarily relying on the Spanish market. Catalans are dissatisfied with the current financial arrangement imposed by the central state, which means that Catalonia transfers an annual net sum of 8.5% of its GDP to the rest of Spain, undermining its ability to invest in infrastructure. In addition, the Spanish Constitutional Court’s decision to substantially cut down the 2006 Statute of Autonomy, after it had been passed by the Spanish Congress and Senate and sanctioned in a referendum by the Catalan people, has fuelled Catalan secessionism – a novel phenomenon, since mainstream Catalan nationalism had traditionally favoured devolution within the Spanish state. At present, secessionism is gaining strength not only in Catalonia but also in the Basque Country – even though the Basque country has a far greater degree of fiscal autonomy. There, a solid pro-sovereignty majority has emerged from the recent Basque parliamentary election where the Christian-democratic Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) won the greatest number of seats (27), followed by the nationalist-secessionist social-democratic party Bildu (21 seats). The PNV stands in favour of greater self-government and defends the idea of the Basque Country as a ‘European nation’. In Catalonia, the peaceful demonstration of 1.5 million people in favour of independence on 11 September has shaped the political agenda. The president of Catalonia, Artur Mas, has called a snap election on 25 November. If the political parties in favour of ‘Catalonia as a new nation in Europe’ obtain a majority, he has promised to hold a referendum on self-determination; however, the Spanish Constitution prevents any direct vote on the issue. In fact, Article 2 argues that ‘the Constitution is based upon the indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation, common and indivisible patria of all Spaniards’, and Article 8 states that ‘the Army’s mission is to guarantee the sovereignty and independence of Spain’, suggesting that the path to self-determination would be anything but smooth. However, for inspiration Catalans are looking to Scotland. The so-called ‘Edinburgh Agreement’ between the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, and First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, to allow a binding referendum on Scottish independence stands in sharp contrast with the Spanish government’s outright opposition to allowing a similar vote in Catalonia. These developments come at a time when the traditional nation-state is being challenged by transnational and global governance as well as by the pressures from below for self-determination. This represents a challenge to cuurent constitutional arrangements, at both national and EU levels, and also to conceptions of political identity. To resolve these tensions, surely dialogue would be the best way forward.