With four recognized languages, two autonomous cities and 17 distinct regions, Spain is a confederacy of regions that looks as much like a defense treaty as a nation- state. A mere 20 percent of Spaniards under 30 think of themselves as Spaniards first, while the rest are seduced by one ancient city-state or another. As other governments try their best to guide one ship of state, President Zapatero will soon have his hands full just trying to keep his flotilla of sailboats tied together. But unlike other European countries, it’s not the immigrants climbing in who are really causing waves, it?s the boats in the middle, trying to break free.
This past September, the independent Parliament of Catalonia, a very wealthy region in the northeast which includes Barcelona, approved a new version of the Statute de Catalunya, originally agreed to by the central Spanish government after the end of Franco?s reign. Among other demands, the agreement called for increased state autonomy, tax revisions and a dominant role for the Catalan language. It also officially defined Catalonia as a ‘nation’ due to its unique culture and history.
The proposal itself is not alarming. Catalonia has always had a noisy independence movement. What is scary is that this independence is actually going to happen.
This past Monday, President Zapatero led a Socialist coalition, comprising a majority of the Spanish legislature, to agree to a tweaked version of the Catalonian proposal. It included a revision of the Spanish tax code and an agreement that schools in Catalonia teach in Catalan instead of Spanish, and recognized Catalonia as a ‘nation’. In other words, it was a home run for the Catalonians, and a cause for hope for the separatist ETA, a terrorist Basque oranization.
Proponents argue that the tax revision, which increases the amount of Catalonian tax revenue which stays within the region, is only fair, and that they have a right to teach their children in whatever language they see fit. The editorials say that the term “nation”, mentioned only in the preamble, is just a symbol and cannot have judicial consequences.
But the issue at hand is not that the Catalonians will find some legal basis to strike out on their own. The concern is that the proposal does nothing to make Catalonians more Spanish and everything to isolate them from the rest of the country. The poorer Spanish regions will lose Spanish tax revenues from Catalonia.
Catalonian children will not speak the same language as their neighbors, making Barcelona inaccessible to other Spaniards within a generation or so. And they have a written document that says that they are Catalonian first, Spanish second.
Catalonia, the Basque Country, Galicia and Valencia each have their own languages and customs. If Catalonia gets special treatment, there is little to stop the other independent-minded regions from also pressuring the central government. The Basques are already rumbling about a revision to their own government charter, according to Forbes.
For most developed countries a warning of dissolution is laughable, but the shadow of civil war still hangs over the peninsula. Last week Lieutenant General, Jose Mena Aguado was relieved of duty for comments to officers, in an incident scarily reminiscent of Spain’s last military coup. In a country as culturally divided by regionalism as Spain, the possibility of fracture needs to be taken seriously.
Zapatero is taking a big gamble by so strongly catering to the Catalonians for their political support. The Catalonians will never be happy as long as their taxes are going to build highways for the gypsies in Andalusia, no matter how many concessions Zapatero makes. Nor will the Basques and the Valencians hold back if Madrid starts recognizing troublesome regions as independent states.
The last time Spain was fractured it took an 800-year reconquista to reunite it and fear of the Castilians, greased with gold from the New World, to hold it together. If the unique regions begin to view independence as a viable option, nothing is going to keep them together. Give them a few generations and the Spanish armada that is fighting its way up the European economic ladder may end up as a bunch of rowboats bobbing in the sea.
