26.06.2014 - 10:01
The British paper, Financial Times, admits that those who invest in the Spanish State are underestimating the risk of Catalan independence. In a special series of articles on Spain (‘Investing in Spain‘, pdf), it says that the Catalan process is the Spanish State’s principal challenge.
Journalist Sarah Gordon warns that “risks remain despite signs of recovery’. She focuses on the financial situation and points out that unemployment is “one of several factors” that could affect hamper the government’s attempts to pursue other reforms”. She also mentions the importance of the situation in Catalonia: “Given that the region represents a fifth of the country’s output and that, admittedly on the Catalan government’s estimates, it makes more than €16bn of fiscal transfers to the centre each year, the financial impact of a secession – not to mention the resulting political and social fissures – should not be underestimated..’
Crisis of trust
The special edition also talks about the attempts by the Spanish Government to halt the referendum, which has kept investors in the dark about the situation. But in another article, correspondent Tobias Buck says that Spain is experiencing “a crisis of trust” while it is coming out of the financial crisis and signals that Catalonia is its principal challenge.
“Rebuilding trust in the state and its institutions will take a Herculean effort, and this time neither the European Commission nor the European Central Bank nor the International Monetary Fund will be there to help. […] In the region of Catalonia, meanwhile, more and more people say they want to have nothing to do with the state of Spain. Secessionist pressures are on the rise, and will come to a head in November, when the regional government plans a referendum on Catalonia’s political future,’ says the paper.
