Another Error

19 October 2017

Cogito Ergo Non Serviam

Rajoy Moves to End Catalan Autonomy

The Catalan independence movement has a secret ally in Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of the conservative People's Party. It seems that every time there is a decision he could make to reverse the drift of the region toward independence, he chooses the wrong option. Today, his government announced that his cabinet would meet on Saturday to bring Catalonia under direct rule from Madrid. This will force people in the middle to pick a side, and when the middle ground is removed, feelings harden. Reconciliation under any arrangement is harder. This plays into the hands of the pro-independence leaders.

This journal believes that every people (and indeed, ever individual person) is entitled to self-determination. However, that doesn't always mean independence. One people can choose to associate with another freely, and neither is denied self-determination under such a consensual union. In the specific case of Catalonia, this journal believes that it would probably be best for its people to remain within Spain while ceding only foreign affairs and defense to Madrid. Everything else is probably better run from Barcelona. This journal pleads guilty to a natural preference for federalism all Americans possess.

The Madrid government botched the whole thing from the beginning when the nationalists in the Catalonia regional parliament called for a referendum on independence. Madrid fought tooth and nail through the courts and managed to get the referendum declared unconstitutional. Pyrrhus could not have done better. There is almost no legitimacy to a decision that says the people may not vote. Regardless of what the Spanish law and constitution says on the matter, the man in the street hears that the highest court in the country (way off in Madrid) decided he can't vote on his future. The natural human reaction is to go vote anyway.

Instead, the Rajoy government should have called the nationalists' bluff. The prime minister could easily have said that his government has legal problems and constitutional questions about any such referendum, but in the interests of democratic rule, a non-binding referendum could go ahead. And then, like the unionists did in Scotland a few years ago, he and his government should have worked hard to defeat the referendum. If the unionists carried the day, the crisis would be over. If not, Mr. Rajoy could note that there are constitutional questions to be addressed, that the referendum was non-binding, and would the nationalists in Catalonia please sit down to talk this all through.

That is not what Mr. Rajoy did. His government stated ""The Spanish government will continue with the procedures outlined in Article 155 of the Constitution to restore legality in Catalonia's self-government. It denounces the attitude maintained by those in charge of the Generalitat [Catalan government] to seek, deliberately and systematically, institutional confrontation despite the serious damage that is being caused to the coexistence and the economic structure of Catalonia. No one doubts that the Spanish government will do all it can to restore the constitutional order."

So, he will invoke Article 155, which says "If a self-governing community does not fulfill the obligations imposed upon it by the constitution or other laws, or acts in a way that is seriously prejudicial to the general interest of Spain, the government... may... take all measures necessary to compel the community to meet said obligations, or to protect the above-mentioned general interest." This journal believes the word "obligar" in this case is best translated as "to compel" because there is a use of force implicit in the original.

The Madrid government will draw up a list of power to take from Barcelona. This list must be approved by the upper house of the Cortes. Many analysts think the prime minister will use Article 155 to force a snap election in Catalonia. That would be dumb. The nationalists might win, and then, he has nowhere to go that doesn't involve force.

It isn't too late to fix all of this. The cabinet can draw up the list, and Mr. Rajoy can then suggest talks before the Cortes votes on it. Given how he has behaved thus far, though, Catalans will go to the polls before the New Year, and between now and then, there is plenty of opportunity for violence.

© Copyright 2017 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.



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