Spooked businesses shift HQs out of Catalonia
BARCELONA, SPAIN — As separatists in Catalonia jockeyed Friday to elude court rulings and find ways to deliver on their promise to declare independence, business giants hit back with plans to relocate their headquarters elsewhere in Spain amid the increasing political uncertainty.
Caixabank, Spain’s third lender in global assets, said Friday that it was moving from Barcelona to Valencia, “given the current situation in Catalonia.” It said it wants to remain in the eurozone and under the supervision of the European Central Bank — two things that would not happen if Catalonia did manage to secede.
The region’s separatist government has vowed to use a pro-independence victory in a disputed referendum last weekend to go ahead with secession, while calling for Spain’s central government to accept a dialogue.
But the government of Spain’s conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has rejected any negotiations unless the separatists drop their secession bid. Rajoy urged Catalan regional President Carles Puigdemont to cancel plans for declaring independence in order to avoid “greater evils.”
“In order to dialogue, you must stay within the legal framework,” Spanish cabinet spokesperson Inigo Mendez de Vigo said Friday, blaming secessionists for breaking Spain’s constitutional order.
“Coexistence is broken” in Catalonia, he said, warning Catalans that a parliamentary declaration of independence “is not enough” and that the international community needs to recognize independent nations.
No country has openly said it would support secession, and the European Union says an independent Catalonia would be kicked out of the bloc and forced to stop using the common euro currency. The EU says Catalonia would have to apply to rejoin.
The prospect of an exit has sent shivers among business heavyweights, including lender Banco Sabadell and energy giant Gas Natural, who were among the firms to green light relocations of their registered address. The companies are moving only official address and so far that does not affect jobs or investments.
The prospects for an independence declaration remained up in the air after a constitutional court suspended a Catalan parliament session next week during which separatist lawmakers wanted to bring up the secession plan.
Puigdemont is now set to address the regional parliament on Tuesday “to report on the current political situation” in Catalonia.
The Catalan government on Friday submitted to parliament the final results of the Oct. 1 disputed referendum.
Spain’s central authorities have deemed the referendum illegal and a constitutional court suspended it. But the Catalan government has declared a landslide victory for the “Yes” despite the fact that only 43 per cent of the region’s 5.3 million eligible voters turned out amid strong police pressure to shut down the vote.