JOHN LLOYD: Why the world should be watching Catalonia
'The widespread distrust of mainstream politicians and central governments, and the conviction that local populists would do a better job, now takes a concrete and threatening form'
The struggles for and against independence in the Spanish province of Catalonia are emblematic of the European Union’s present strength and its future weakness. They also display the weaknesses, present and future, of the two leaders of the contending parties: Mariano Rajoy, the Spanish prime minister and Carles Puigdemont, president of Catalonia. The declaration of independence made by Catalonia’s parliament a week ago was constitutionally illegal. Shots of huge pro-independence rallies obscure the fact that, in an opinion poll in the summer, 49.4 per cent opposed breaking away from Spain while 41.1 per cent supported it. Unionists have held their own large rallies and a new poll in El Mundo shows their parties with a slight polling lead in the December Catalan elections.The parliamentary vote for independence – taken in a half-full chamber after the anti-independence parties left in protest – was swiftly followed by Rajoy, fully backed by his parliament and senate, ordering the pa...
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