recentralisation

The Spanish Executive has presented a 720-page report in which it proposes 120 measures “to eliminate duplications” and “improve the coordination” between government levels in order to “rationalise” and “increase the efficiency” of the public sector. However, the initiative proposes a true recentralisation of Spain, since almost all the measures point towards transferring powers and services back to the Spanish Government. The Catalan Executive and the non-Spanish-nationalist parties have announced a common front to stop “the pruning” of Catalonia’s self-government. Madrid’s document proposes the direct elimination of several institutions that are defined in the Catalan Statute of Autonomy, approved by citizens through a binding referendum. Furthermore, it cancels pending power devolutions, which had been planned for years but whose effective transfer has been constantly delayed.

According to a poll from the Catalan Centre for Polling (CEO), 54.7% of Catalans would vote “yes” to independence while 22.1% would vote “no” and 15.7% are undecided. The poll shows similar percentages than the other polls issued in the last few months from several different institutions and companies. However, the poll indicates that for the first time, independence is the clear preferred alternative among possible formulas for the relationship between Catalonia and Spain. Independence would be the preferred scenario for 48.5% of Catalans, while those in favour of a federal Spain with Catalonia having greater powers represent 21.3% of the interviewees. Finally, the Catalans that prefer maintaining the current status quo amount to 18.6%.

The Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, said on Thursday that he was hoping that “moderation” and “common sense” will finally “prevail in Catalonia”. In the evening, the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, replied that Rajoy’s statement is “comical and audacious”, because Catalonia has a long tradition of moderation and tolerance. “The first way of being tolerant is making a step towards the other and, historically, Catalonia has always made this step”, Mas stated. However, now Catalan citizens want to decide on their possible independence from Spain and the “moderate” attitude is to talk about how to allow them to democratically vote on the issue, he pointed out. “Moderation cannot be confused with giving up” on a claim shared by a majority of Catalans, added Mas.

The Catalan Chemists’ Professional Association, in charge of distributing the money from partially-subsidised prescribed drugs, has already received €309 million of the €416 million arrears payments due.The Professional Association announced the “immediate distribution” of the money received. Two weeks ago, Catalan chemists went on strike for these arrears, urging the Catalan and Spanish Governments to issue the payments. In theory the Catalan Executive is in charge of paying them, but to do so it needs a previous transfer from the Spanish Government. The necessary transfers from Madrid have been arriving intermittently over the last year and on many occasions with considerable delay. For these reasons, chemists protested on the 7^th November in front of the Spanish Government’s Delegation in Barcelona.

The Spanish Government has finally set a date for the first direct High Speed Train between Barcelona and Paris. Passengers will no longer have to switch trains near the French border and a direct TGV will link Paris and Barcelona from the 15^th of December. The journey will last 6 hours and 20 minutes, since there is no high-speed railway in the 200-kilometre stretch between Perpignan and Nîmes and trains circulate at a regular speed. The High-Speed railway between Nîmes and Montpellier should be operative by 2017, but the French Government announced last June that the construction of the 150 km between Montpellier and Perpignan would be delayed beyond 2030. The Catalan Executive as well as French and Catalan Euro MPs have requested the French Government to reconsider its decision after the EU has included the Mediterranean Railway Corridor among its 9 main transport priorities until 2020.

The Spanish Government has sent a Budget Plan to the European Commission, following the new rules giving Brussels greater control on Member State finances. The plan’s scope includes all government levels in Spain. In the plan, the Spanish Government imposes a global budget adjustment of €8 billion on the Autonomous Community governments, including Catalonia’s, to be achieved within the next two years. €2.14 billion would come from increasing revenue next year, since Madrid considers that the Autonomous Communities can still increase their own taxes, particularly those linked to the environment. €1.93 billion would come from further budget cuts. This would total €4.07 billion in 2014, which would roughly be repeated in 2015.

The Catalan Government has published a report listing all the Spanish Executive’s disloyalties towards Catalonia including not respecting legislation, devolved powers and cultural aspects. The 50-page document has a chapter quantifying the costs of such disloyalty, which totals €9.375 billion, according to the Catalan Government. €5.748 billion correspond to infrastructure which has not been built; €672 million to a reduction in institutional transfers; €1.715 billion to spending increases due to the Spanish Government’s unilateral decisions; and €1.239 to revenue reductions due to similar unilateral decisions which have never been compensated. The report does not take into account the so-called fiscal deficit – the €16.5 billion that each year Catalan tax-payers transfer to the rest of Spain. The Catalan Government emphasised that there has been “a permanent disloyal activity” since 2000.

On Monday the Spanish Government presented its budget proposal for 2014. As every single year, it will only invest in Catalonia a much inferior budget share than Catalonia’s weight within Spain in GDP or population terms. In 2014, the Spanish Government is planning to spend just 9.6% of its total regional investment in Catalonia, far short of the Catalan GDP (18.9% of Spain’s total) and population (15.7%). In addition, compared to the budget forecast for 2013, the €944.42 million planned for 2014 represents a 25% annual drop, while investment throughout Spain will only be reduced by 7.2%.

The civil society platform that organised the colossal ‘Catalan Way towards independence’ demanded a self-determination referendum to be held in 2014 and not at a later stage. The festive demonstration was a great success, gathering more participants than last year’s 1.5 million strong rally, which was also organised on Catalonia’s National Day. Most of the Catalan Government Ministers took part in the human chain, but neither the President of Catalonia, Artur Mas, nor the Chairperson of the Catalan Parliament took part. However, they did both gave their personal support to the peaceful demonstration. Many folkloric performances and festive celebrations were carried out throughout the non-interrupted human chain. 500,000 citizens held hands in the city of Barcelona alone, and a total of 1.6 million Catalans participated in the rally, according to the Catalan Police.

This coming 11^th of September – which is Catalonia’s National Day – pro-independence supporters have organised a gigantic human chain called the ‘Catalan Way Towards Independence’ that will cross Catalonia from North to South stretching 400 km and passing through some of the main cities, such as Barcelona, Girona and Tarragona. After having organised the 1.5 million-strong demonstration of 2012, the civil society platform Catalan National Assembly is preparing a new massive demonstration that calls for independence from Spain. This year’s peculiar demonstration is inspired by the ‘Baltic Way’ of 1989, which gathered 2 million people forming a 670 km-long human chain crossing Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The ‘Baltic Way’ was organised exactly 24 years ago and issued a manifesto that read “a common European home can only by set up if all European nations are granted a free right to self-determination”.

Catalonia’s main SME association PIMEC and the Catalan Business Circle (CCN) have criticised the regional Government of Madrid for issuing a report not sufficiently backed-up by economic data. In addition, they have accused Madrid’s Finance Minister, who presented the report, of offering a politically-biased version by saying that companies have left Catalonia due to the self-determination debate. PIMEC and CCN stated they do not have data supporting Madrid’s statement. On the contrary, they have data proving that foreign investment has not reduced. In addition, CCN accused the Spanish Government of building a “Greater Madrid” as an economic centre, at the expense of other areas such as Catalonia. PIMEC emphasised the Catalan industrial tradition and the vigour of its economy, although admitted that taxation is higher in Catalonia than in Madrid.

In the last three years, 1,060 companies have moved their headquarters from Catalonia to the region of Madrid, according to a report published by Madrid’s regional Government. The report states that most of them took the decision because of the lower taxes that exist in Spain’s capital, compared to other areas such as Catalonia. Since 2010, 5,000 companies based in the rest of Spain decided to move to Madrid; 21.4% of them were from Catalonia. Paradoxically, 43 cents out of every euro paid in taxes in Catalonia is to pay for investments and services made in other parts of Spain, which turns into an annual fiscal deficit of 8.5% of Catalonia’s GDP, meaning that Catalans are obliged by the Spanish Government to give away €16.5 billion. Meanwhile, the Catalan Government is under-budgeted and obliged to implement severe budget cuts and raise taxes to balance the budget.

The Catalan Finance Minister, Andreu Mas-Colell, accuses the Spanish Government of “asphyxiating” the Autonomous Communities. The 1.58% deficit target imposed to the Catalan Government represents €2.6 billion of further budget adjustment compared to last year’s budget, which ended with a 1.96% deficit. Mas-Colell denounced that the Spanish Executive is “keeping for itself the greatest share of the deficit pie”, while it is only responsible for 50% of Spain’s public spending. The Spanish Government is setting itself a deficit target of 5.2% for 2013 and most of the flexibility allowed by the European Union, which authorised a 6.5% deficit for Spain’s total public sector. Meanwhile, the Autonomous Communities have a deficit target 4 times stricter, although they manage 36% of Spain’s total public spending as well as basic services such as healthcare and education.

The Catalan Government has reminded it has the exclusive powers to rule local governments in Catalonia, an authority which stems from the Catalan Statute of Autonomy approved by the Spanish Parliament and a binding referendum. Therefore, it does not recognise the Spanish Government’s law proposal on local governments, approved last week in Madrid, and will reject any imposition. The new Catalan law foresees the volunteer merging of municipalities and elimination of 1,034 remunerated positions in the County Councils. It also reshapes the body managing services within the Barcelona Metropolitan Area. Furthermore, it strengthens the control on the creation of new local bodies and the public services offered by municipalities.

The Spanish National Police has allocated more than half of its recently graduated agents to be sent to Catalonia. Of the 418 that passed the police training this year, 231 are destined to work in Catalonia, a figure which represents 55% of the total. The Director General of the Spanish Police, Ignacio Cosidó, stated how these figures show that the force “has a strong willingness to remain in Catalonia”. He also added that the Spanish Government prioritises security within Catalonia. However, the Catalan Police, called the Mossos d’Esquadra, has the majority of police power in Catalonia, except customs control and the fight against international and organised crime. In the rest of Spain – except the Basque Country – Spanish Police does the majority of the police work.