Catalan President torn as economy grows turbulent
CATALONIA’S leader faced mounting pressure yesterday from all sides, with hardliners in the separatist movement demanding he declare independence from Spain once and for all.
Spain’s government and the European Union, on the other hand, want him to abandon the secession plans altogether.
Spain’s deputy prime minister blamed Catalan President Carles Puigdemont for creating such economic uncertainty that a recession could be on the cards, and for sinking tourism figures.
Soraya Saenz de Santamaria also said Spain’s government is considering lowering the growth forecast for the Spanish economy in 2018 if there is no immediate solution to the standoff in Catalonia.
Around 40 Catalan banks, multinationals and mid-size businesses have moved their registered addresses out of the troubled region. The move is so far mainly symbolic and has limited economic impact because it does not involve relocating offices, jobs or assets.
But Ms Saenz de Santamaria said investment in Catalonia is falling, and citing industry sources, she said the tourism sector in the region has seen business drop between 20% and 30% in the past month.
The central government has given Mr Puigdemont a Monday deadline to make clear whether he has already declared independence for the region and to fall in line with Spain’s laws by October 19 if he wants to avoid losing some or all of the region’s autonomous powers.
For Spain, Mr Puigdemont simply has to say one of two words in his response.
“It’s just a yes or a no,” deputy prime minister Ms Saenz de Santamaria told reporters after a weekly Cabinet meeting.
She added that “it’s in Puigdemont’s hands” to avoid the extraordinary measures that would allow central authorities a partial or full suspension of the prosperous region’s autonomy.
In addition to pressure from Spain, two key allies of Mr Puigdemont’s government called on him to ignore the Spanish government’s threats and press ahead with proclaiming a new republic.
On Tuesday Mr Puigdemont told regional lawmakers in a speech that Catalonia was proceeding with a declaration of independence from a mandate provided by an October 1 referendum.
But he immediately suspended its implementation for a few weeks to allow for the possibility of negotiations with Spain.
The move disappointed some of the hardliners in the secessionist camp.
Spain considers the referendum to be illegal and unconstitutional, and says its results are invalid.
Spain’s Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, has rejected any possibility of dialogue unless Mr Puigdemont backtracks, returns “to legality” and takes independence off the table.
Mr Rajoy has also said that Spain does not need international mediators to get involved.
If Mr Puigdemont says he did declare independence, then he will have three more days to cancel any secession plans.
If he refuses to, or does not answer, Mr Rajoy has threatened to trigger for the first time a constitutional article that could give central authorities power to intervene in Catalonia.
The far-left separatist Catalan party CUP said in a letter dated yesterdaythat Mr Puigdemont should ignore the Spanish government’s warning, lift the suspension and definitively proclaim independence.
The Assemblea Nacional Catalana, or ANC, a civil society group that organised massive protests in support of secession, also issued a brief statement with a similar message.
“It doesn’t make sense to keep the suspension of the independence declaration” given Madrid’s rejection of any dialogue, ANC said in the statement.
Some politicians of the two parties in the ruling coalition have also expressed similar views on social media, with only a few of them calling for calm. The Catalan government hasn’t given any signal of what it intends to do, but Catalan media reported that meetings were being held yesterday.