Cold Reality Dawns for Catalonia as Spain Quashes Independence
Catalan leaders left with little power and potential arrest as the hands of Rajoy’s authorities.
(Bloomberg) -- A moment of triumph, the declaration of Europe’s newest independent state, has quickly become the cold reality of what Catalonia’s separatists were always likely to face in their historic collision with Spain.
Within hours of the parliament in Barcelona voting to break away on Friday, the would-be Catalan Republic was hit by the might of the Spanish state. Rather than leaving Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont and his deputies running their own affairs, it’s left them with little real power and facing potential arrest in coming days as Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s authorities move in.
“They tried to stage a kidnap and steal part of the community from the people,” Rajoy said in a televised national address. “Now it’s about trying to minimize the damage.”
The Catalan government is no more in the eyes of Spain, and indeed the European Union. Right after Catalan lawmakers victoriously sang their anthem, Rajoy used the power granted to him by the senate to start bringing to an end the country’s worst constitutional crisis for decades.
Elections, which Puigdemont had wanted to call to defuse the situation only to balk as the separatist hard core engulfed him, will now come on Dec. 21 after Rajoy dissolved the Catalan Parliament. The prime minister is set to appoint one of his officials to run the region as soon as this weekend, including the Catalan police whose loyalty has been torn.
Messy Situation
The regional economy, which accounts for about a fifth of Spanish gross domestic product, is also under threat as more companies up sticks amid the threat of civil unrest. A business of German insurance giant Allianz AG on Friday added its name to the list of hundreds shifting out of Catalonia.
“It’s an enormous mess and utterly incomprehensible,” said Jordi Alberich, director general of Cercle d’Economia, a Barcelona-based business association. “The strategy seems to be to make this the biggest crisis possible so that the world will have to intervene. But I am convinced there is a clear majority of people who want a calm solution.”
The next step will involve the Madrid government’s decrees being published in the official bulletin, most likely Saturday. After that, Puigdemont and his colleagues will be legally obliged to quit or be forcibly removed.
The chief prosecutor signaled he would seek rebellion charges against the Catalan president, whose message after the parliamentary vote was to see through the transition to a sovereign state.
“We face hours when we all have to keep this country going,” said Puigdemont. “It’s a society that has always peacefully and with civic responsibility to its great democratic challenges.”
Protesters Gather
The phalanx of pro-independence activists and demonstrators is certainly unlikely to take Spain’s dramatic intervention lying down.
Thousands of people gathered in the square where the regional government palace is located, some of them holding separatist flags and chanting slogans such as “llibertat” or “freedom.” A group extended the yellow-red-and-blue flag with white star from of the National Police barracks nearby.
“We are likely to see more sustained unrest, possibly including strikes, as well as more serious clashes between national police and pro-independence activists,” said Federico Santi, political analyst at Eurasia. “Parts of the regional administration will probably refuse to comply with orders from Madrid. The main signpost over the weekend will be whether the regional government refuses to willingly and peacefully step down.”
And then there’s the body of support for remaining part of Spain. Opponents of Catalan independence have called a demonstration in Barcelona for Sunday.
One group of young people, draped in Spanish and Catalan flags, on Friday tried to head for the central square outside the regional government building where activists were celebrating. They were cut off by regional police with a file of riot vans.
What Happened?
For many Catalans, the turbulent events of the past 48 hours were just sinking in as they braced for the inevitable reprisals. They would be forgiven for asking how they got here.
Years of pro-independence campaigning escalated with an unofficial referendum on Oct. 1 as Spanish national police beat would-be voters and stormed polling stations. But any moral high ground was never anchored in law.
Weeks of brinkmanship then culminated with two days of high drama as noises came from Barcelona of a Puigdemont climb-down and from some of Rajoy’s political opponents in Madrid of a potential deal should there be elections.
The Spanish government stood firm and the separatists faced a binary decision: capitulation or declaration.
As Puigdemont and his allies left the Barcelona parliament on Friday evening the crowds had dwindled and there was no grandstanding. He smiled, got into his car, and left.
To contact the reporters on this story: Charles Penty in Madrid at cpenty@bloomberg.net, Esteban Duarte in Barcelona at eduarterubia@bloomberg.net, Maria Tadeo in Barcelona at mtadeo@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Rodney Jefferson
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