1860 Charleston, 2017 Barcelona
In a visit to Madrid on February 9, the president of the European Parliament, Mr. Antonio Trajani, clearly stated that the EU would never accept an independent Catalonia if that independence were achieved contrary to and in open violation of the Spanish constitution. While the former president of the Catalonian Autonomous Region, Mr. Arthur Mas and the present regional president, Mr. Carles Puigdemont, have blindly insisted that an independent Catalonia would be welcome within the community of European nations, the reality is that they are passing off wishful thinking as fact. What Mr. Trajani stated publically yesterday in Madrid is what the president of the Spanish government and all leaders of Spain´s major national parties have stated again and again and again. The Spanish constitution of 1978 was approved in a plebiscite by the vast majority of voters in all the Spain´s autonomous regions, including Catalonia. Under that document which is the citadel of all law and human dignity in the country, cession is impossible without a national referendum called to approve it. This means that a vote on independence within Catalonia is about as valid at the decision in South Carolina, in 1860, to declare itself independent of the Union. Of course the Catalonian nationalists do not want to hear talk about such a referendum since they know that it would be rejected nationally, and as in Quebec, on the autonomous level also. Mas, Puigdemont and their old fashioned, early XX century leftist dreamers and allies are not heroes. They are cynical or naive and blind leaders who would push Catalonia into the disaster of outsider status. Europe doesn´t need a myriad of small counties. There are enough of them already. The Union exists to unite. They insist that free, Catalonia could apply for membership to be welcomed with open arms. Sure! How many counties now part of the Union would feel a unilateral declaration of independence in an anticonstitutional Republic of Catalonia to be a wake-up call to popularists in their corner of Europe? Hello! Wake up and smell the coffee there in Barcelona. Mas, the boss, and Puigdemont constantly call for dialogue on independence with Madrid. The Spanish prime minister has accepted possible conversations on a variety of options for Catalonia within Spain. Mas and Puidemont only want talks in which the when and how of their demands would be satisfied. Mr. Rajoy responds that as chief of government he cannot negotiate a reality that violates the constitution he is sworn to uphold and defend. The nationalists have rejected or ignored the many suggestions of constitutional reform, many from within Catalonia, that would incorporate even more autonomy into the already very federal-like relationship between the various regions of Spain and Madrid. Since 1492 Catalonia has been a constituent part of Spain. It was never an independent country. In Catalonia, their language and culture are flowering with no interference from Madrid. Within the region there are ample demands that Spanish be a co-language since many people understand that for them to be a real part of the world out there they need to know an international language. If Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Holland, Ireland, and many other counties can live with it, what´s the problem?
overcoffee 