"Catalonia Needs Its Own Central Bank": Spain's Black Swan Lives As New Catalan President Sworn In
When last we checked in on Catalonia, Spain’s black swan was splashing around in a desperate attempt to avoid snap elections just three months after the region’s parliament approved a “democratic disconnection” resolution and just four months after Catalans voted in what amounted to a referendum on secession from Spain.
The problem was that although Junts pel Si and the Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP) parties won a majority of the seats in parliament, and although both parties back a split from Spain, the two groups were unable to agree on who should lead the government. The choice was between then-President Artur Mas (Junts pel Si's leader) or someone else.
Once CUP made it clear that they would not back Mas for President, the prospect of new elections reared its ugly head and the countdown was on to January 11 - the deadline for forming a government. "Lacking a majority in the 135-seat parliament, Mas had been reliant on the support of the pro-secession, far-left CUP group, which has 10 seats." WaPo wrote in November. "But the CUP has refused to back Mas as regional president, because of his austerity policies of recent years and his party’s links to corruption scandals."
When national elections held in December proved largely inconclusive, the stage was set for new elections both in Catalonia and for the country as a whole. Because the various parties vying for seats in the national parliament are divided on the Catalan independence bid, politics in Madrid are inextricably bound up with politics in Barcelona, creating an extraordinarily complex dynamic that admitted of no obvious solution.
Well, with the clock ticking, Catalonia resolved its stalemate on Saturday when Artur Mas agreed to stand aside so that Carles Puigdemont can assume the presidency. Mas had indicated he wasn't willing to step aside as recently as Tuesday, but when push came to shove, advancing the secession bid proved more important than political grandstanding. Here's FT:
Saturday’s deal marks a striking reversal for Mr Mas and his Junts pel Si movement, which had insisted until the last moment that it would not sacrifice the veteran leader. But with talks deadlocked, and a repeat election moving ever closer, Mr Mas finally agreed to make way for a party colleague, Carles Puigdemont, the mayor of Girona. The former journalist and editor is expected to be voted in as president of Catalonia in a special session of the regional parliament on Sunday.
Mr Mas made clear he was not retiring from politics, saying he was ready in particular to help the cause of Catalan independence in the international arena. “I remain at the disposition of the future president and the future government,” he said.
And from WSJ:
Catalonia’s independence movement got renewed life as secessionist parties in the wealthy region reached an 11th-hour agreement on a new regional president, averting the need to call fresh elections.
Under the accord announced Saturday, Catalan President Artur Mas will step aside for another member of his party, ending a monthslong dispute between the biggest secessionist ticket and a small far-left separatist party that refused to back the incumbent.
Mr. Mas told a news conference that his successor, Carles Puigdemont, a mayor and head of an association of pro-independence Catalan municipal leaders, is a firm believer in the secessionists’ plan to turn the region into an independent nation within 18 months.
With the secession bid thus alive and well, PM Mariano Rajoy may be able to use the renewed "threat" of an independent Catalonia to his political advantage by calling on the Socialists to come to the table. "Xavier Garcia Albiol, the Popular Party’s leader in Catalonia, wrote Saturday on his Twitter account that the emergence of a new pro-independence Catalan administration underscored Spain’s “immediate need for a strong and stable government to respond to the challenge," WSJ notes, adding that "that argument could well strengthen Mr. Rajoy’s hand to pressure Socialists and other rivals opposed to Catalan self-determination to help him form a national unity government and avoid new national elections, said Andrew Dowling, a specialist on Catalan and Spanish history at Cardiff University in Wales."
"The inability to form a regional government would be a significant step back for the Catalan pro-independence movement. Markets may welcome this development, but the political impasse in Catalonia will not help to solve the gridlock at a national level," Deutsche Bank wrote, prior to the last minute deal. "For example, [a] pause in the independence process reduces the sense of national emergency that could have been used to justify a PP-PSOE temporary collaboration." The Guardian has a bit more color:
The resurgence of a unified independence movement increases pressure on the acting prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, and his Socialist rivals to bury their differences and form a German-style “grand coalition” in Madrid to thwart the Catalan parties.
A senior official of Rajoy’s PP said on Sunday that a coalition with more than 200 parliamentarians would be the best response to what he called the challenge to Spain’s sovereignty.
“Now there are no excuses,” Fernando Martínez-Maillo told a news conference. “When the new legislature opens next Wednesday, we should reach an agreement among us all to form the broadest government possible of the main parties – the People’s party, the Socialists, and also, logically, [newcomer centrists] Ciudadanos, to, among other things, defend Spain’s unity.”
But even as Mas swears “Puigdemont has a very clear idea on the project of our country [and] is committed to making Catalonia a state," some, like the abovementioned Andrew Dowling, view the secession bid as dubious. “Are they really going to create their own tax authority and other state structures?” he asked. “Ignore the rhetoric and declarations, follow the actions.”
Yes "ignore the rhetoric" - which Puigdemont ratcheted up a notch before being sworn in. Here are the bullet points courtesy of Bloomberg which show that the new President's answer to Dowling's question is definitively "yes":
- New Catalan government to set agenda for talks with Spain, EU about the creation of a new Catalan state
- Catalonia to sets its security, defense plan
- Catalonia needs own central bank
- Catalonia to have a new electoral law
- Catalonia to expand its own tax agency
- Puigdemont speaks in a plenary of the Catalan parliament in Barcelona ahead of vote on his investiture
Remember, Catalonia accounts for some 20% of Spanish GDP. "Without an agreement to share the stock of debt with Catalonia, Spain’s’ projected public debt for 2015 would move from just above 100% of GDP to about 125% of GDP," Deutsche Bank wrote in September, describing the impact a messy separation would have for Madrid. "And this accounts only for the mechanical impact," Deutsche added. "On 21 September Mas stated that if the central government refuses to negotiate, Catatonia might not pay back its liabilities to the central government."
And so, the black swan lives. The question now is whether a renewed secession bid paradoxically creates political stability in Madrid by making a grand coalition between PP and PSOE possible. If Rajoy does succeed in forming a government while Catalans attempt to move forward with independence, the stage will be set for a showdown that could very well result in social upheaval.
Watch out for armored vans at the central bank branch in Barcelona...
(5 votes)
»
- Login or register to post comments
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
Catalonia to have its own Private or Public CB?
Big difference.
Death to all Central Banks!
New Central Bank = new central banksters = more rape. Fuck banksters, goddamn zergs.
Nobody has "their own" central bank. Tribe members, all.
"Catalonia needs own central bank"
No country needs a central bank.
Central bank = Fraud
+1
Try to expa¡lain it to the "revolutionaries"
all you need is blockchain - decentralized trust engine
see, trust is the MAIN asset of banks, and do you really trust banks in corrupted hands of psychopaths, so called "elite", when history has proven time and time again how they bankrupt entire societies over and over?
you want trust thats out of the hands of corrupt governments, something that challenges their out-of-thin-air money-minting monopoly and debt fraud
If they were smart they would spool on buttcoin and get themselves prepared for the day.
"No country needs a central bank"
your point is that there is no need for a sovereign country to have a central bank. that's a political opinion, isn't it?
a well meaning Catalan Nationalist could be forgiven to ask back: "why don't you lead by example and get rid of your central bank first? before you pontificate about others?"
fact is that nearly every sovereign nation has a national bank. fact is that the current dominant ("global") reserve currency is a fiat currency. fact is that there is a currency war going on
and fact is that if Catalonia achieves full independence from Spain, it would either adopt the EUR or have it's own national bank which then...
... might or might not join the other national banks of the eurozone in the monetary alliance called ECB, as an alternative to an own national currency
or go the way of Montenegro and adopt the EUR, straight and unilaterally, without any affiliation to the ECB. or adopt the USD, or the Yuan
but my point here is that your demand smacks of... either globalism or hegemonism, or both
then you aren't a Catalunyian, are you? you are a foreign bystander making a demand. possibly an American opposed to central banking... while the FED is the "hegemon CB" of the world
at what point is this similar to a discussion where you would ask every other nation to forsake arms, or nukes... first and unilaterally? lead by example, do your homework at home, first
We are all central bankers now.
Central Bank. Are they catatonic?
I am listening to these discussions among politicians and I am not that much disturbed. I own some Bitcoin.
Congratulations! Too bad that you bought at $1100, though.
I am sure they can find an ex-Goldman employee somwhere...
Like in the hunger games, creating different sectors is a devider and breaks the national unity of a country so it's easier to break the spirits.
And if one sector rebels, you can crush it easier without the other sectors giving a fuck.
A coalition of very different groups striving for an independent Catalonia: conservatives (CDC), far left (ERC) and anticapitalists (CUP). The coalition has absolute majority on Catalonia Parliament, but they "only" have 48% of votes for independence in the latest elections. 52% of voters were not for independence.
The CUP party, which are anticapitalists, anti-euro, anti-NATO have managed to throw away the conservative leader Artur Mas. Very different ideologies looking to break with the State.
Guys, seriously, you'd better own some Bitcoin for peace for mind.
I have gold silver brass copper and lead for peace of mind.
Homage to Catalonia Orwellian Fascist won... It ain't POUM this time but the CFR PNAC Neo-con
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0N0iqUiaTs
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homage_to_Catalonia
On 13 July 1937 a deposition was presented to the Tribunal for Espionage & High Treason, Valencia, charging the Orwells with 'rabid Trotskyism' and being agents of the POUM.
Potemkin Village!
Just watched a La Liga ( Premier ) football (soccer ) match and they covered 50% of the Stadium in Flags to cover up the Empty terraces. Shame that the remaining 50% on view was again 50% empty.
With Religion dying and now Spanish football; the Bull Fighting banned , what's left for Spain?
This is a non event unless they're completely untethered from the Rothschild Zio Bank.
Is it 1916, or 2016? I feel like I'm caught in an " Time Warp".
They are bluffing. Only 5 years ago Mas was not an independentist. Something changed.
The Catalan cultura and languages will not be lost (they teach them at schools, they can speak it everywhere, they have their own teevee station and all that...); they have very large autonomy (compared not only to other Comunidad Autonoma in Spain but to provinces other European countries too).
They have all that nationalist could dream of expect being their own state. Once there, they need something big to differentiate themselves from say PP, PSOE or other parties. Go big or go home. So they are playing the independence card. It gets them noisy support and allows them to negotiate with Spain.
I can't imagine how such a mixed government, where each group's interests are so different, will ever be able to pull off creating a state from scratch. You can't copy/paste your way out of that.
Leeches can't be independent. Nationalism is the excuse to get people to vote and support your quest for power, just like the other -isms.
They just want to stay in power and more dinero.
I hope this doesn't disturb the Force too much.
P.S.: also noted mentioning is the case of Jordi Pujol, one of the fathers of catalanism, him and his family are being investigated in a huge corruption case. He has threatened with telling everything he knows if he gets to trial. But if Catalonia was independent he could avoid trial. Mas is his political heir to say so. ummh...
You got it.
Just take a look at this AMAZING video. And note it's not a comedy show, it's a "Seriuous" politics Magazine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrAXapu5NV4
See that and then we can start eveluating what's going on in Catalonia.
Clue: It's just herding. At some places they herd the sheep with football, some other people likes to me "motivated" with "liberal freedom", gay marriage, abortion and so on In Catalonia they love to be herd with the "independence" hoax. But believe me, every one knows it's a farce, Absolotely everyone. It's like wrestling combat. It's not real boxing, ot's not a real combat at all, it's just for the show. That's the point here. Its just our favorite electorial McGuffin.
ZH image is compromised every time they speak about the "Catalonia Independence" as a real threat or possible black swan. or giving credibility to a clown. Would you make a boxing technic comment of a wrestling show? That's it.
There's no sovereignity without army. Period. You can't secede by hanging flags in the balcony or re-tweeting memes from the sofa. You can't.
Oh... ZH didn't even mention that today Spanish PM gave a press conferencie carfully explaining the legal mechanisms that would automatically be activated if that guy in Catalonia local gov. dares to try any kind of coup.
In Franco times, the name Jordi (and other Catalan names) was forbidden. It was also forbidden to use the Catalan language outside the home.....The Catalan people don't have fond memories of that era.
That might seems long ago but Latin American friends of mine who live in Spain told me that Spain in its nature is still a Franquist country. Catalan people have had a long wish for independence.
Sorry, that's bullshit. I live in Spain and I can tell you Spain is probably (and perhaps, sadly) one of the most liberal countries in Europe.
And Franco wasn't liberal precissely.
Sorry, but I know many Spaniards and many people living there and then all confirm that deep down inside Spain is still very much an autocratic country, regardless of all the modernities you can find there. Spain deep down inside is still very conservative.
And define liberal: as in the high jacked US meaning of leftist or in the true meaning of the word aka Adam Smith and the like?
Franco did chase catalan nationalism as well as the basque one and other regions. He died 40 years ago, things have changed now.
The ones in the left will complain about Spain not being red enough, and the ones on the right will complain about Spain being too red. It's a matter of who washed their brain.
Unfortunately we have identity politics and cultural marxism in Spain too. Scars of the Spanish Civil War not only are not healed but periodically re-opened by politcians for their own intrerests. The political debates here would make any critical thinker vomit.
And people follow the leaders.
A few summers ago we had a World Christians Youth Meeting in Madrid (100ks of christians and the Pope too) followed a few days later by gay pride (100ks of LGTBs). There were no incidents worth mentioning.
Not a conservative trait I would say. Can't compare Spain to Holland... but still it's good and improved a lot since Franco died. Definetely they still need to free themselves further from their dictatorial and divided past.
I am Dutch so I could be biased :-)
Yes, a lot has changed in society in Spain. But the State, the deep State, is still very conservative and patriarchal. But perhaps they always are, everywhere. Politically, the Left in Spain is as vigorous in their doctrine as is the right as you say. My guess considering the latest political developments in Spain is that many people -just like in France and as in Holland- are fed up with the same old parties though.
I want to know if they get to keep their military and their nukes.