04.04.2014 - 17:42
In the article, titled “A European Nation Within Spain” Mas-Colell explains the complete lack of recognition of Catalonia within Spain. “There is no significant party in Spain whose leader could possibly use terms such as ‘country’ or ‘nation’ when referring to Catalonia.”
Mas-Colell explains that the Catalans wish to organize a referendum in accordance with the law, but that the Spanish Congress will likely vote against assigning the powers to do so on April 8, and the Spanish Government will likely bring any referendum that follows Catalan law before Spain’s Constitutional Court.
Most importantly, Mas-Colell describes the completely rational process that has led up to the referendum process. “But we haven’t gone crazy. We are a government of moderates—centrist and business-friendly. We are propelled forward by massive and orderly popular sentiment in support of the referendum, a reaction to the recent, dramatic reversals in the extent of self-government that Catalonia once enjoyed.”
And then he outlines the recentralization efforts of the Spanish government which have instigated the process, “from the transcendent (for instance with detailed control of school curricula, municipal appointments and fiscal duties) to the petty (attempts to reclaim the functions of ombudsmen, for example, or of the agencies of meteorology, university quality-assessment and many others)”
Mas-Colell recalls that the Spanish government’s policy of “uniformity and dilution of Catalan identity” is “worrying” and that if such policies failed under Franco, they will always fail.
Finally, he underscores the “strongly pro-European” Catalan feeling, and “exquisite respect for differences and multiplicity of cultures”. “We like that,” he concludes.
There has been a concerted effort by Catalan politicians to make their case known in the international press.
Catalonia’s President Artur Mas wrote a defense of the sovereignty process in the New York Times in September, titled A Referendum for Catalonia
Francesc Homs, Catalan Government Spokesperson, wrote “Spain has let Catalonia down, now it must let it go” in The Guardian
