Don’t break up with us, please

It’s been an eventful week in Spain. The long-discussed referendum for the independence of Catalonia was finally and illegally carried out last Sunday in most municipalities of the four Catalonian provinces. Illegally, because it was never approved by the Central Government, and it contradicts article 2 of our Constitution, the unity of the Spanish nation.

According to the recently published final results, 2.3 million of the 5.3 million people registered in Catalonia, went to vote throughout October 1st. Several hundreds of them clashed with policemen, who acted very roughly to keep the electoral venues clear – fights that were photographed and quickly spread on Internet to the shame of all Spaniards. Over 90% of these voters would have gone for the independence, which did nothing but encouraged the President of the Catalonian Government to announce a potential, unilateral independence.

Throughout the week, the Central Government (PP) showed an amazing inability to deal with all this, and worse yet, the King of Spain – who normally speaks only on Christmas day – gave a 6-minutes, highly biased and weak speech that didn’t make things any better, and made people re-take a very different debate – on the usefulness of the Spanish monarchy.

In any case, the voting process was clearly manipulated and is not representative of the Catalonian people – those known for being entrepreneurial and generating 19% of the Spanish GDP, for being bilingual and defending both Catalonia and Spain and for believing in hard work rather than in victimism and conflicts. Worrying about a potential announcement of break-up next Tuesday, about a million of these Catalonians had to finally come out of their houses to demonstrate and shout together that they want to stick together to Spain – and to the EU.

"The voting process was clearly manipulated and is not representative of the Catalonian people – those known for being entrepreneurial and generating 19% of the Spanish GDP, for being bilingual and defending both Catalonia and Spain and for believing in hard work rather than in victimism and conflicts."

This is not an isolated event. Since 2014, a number of developments have revealed the increasing nationalism the world is tending to: closure of borders, Brexit (following a very narrow defeat for the independence of Scotland), and of course, Mr. Trump. The anti-Globalization the world has entered into is really worrisome, and as I wrote six months ago, the show is not over yet. A new phase of “islandization” and “parochialism” has begun.

"This is not an isolated event [...]. A new phase of “islandization” and “parochialism” has begun."

I have always been jealous of countries where you can show patriotism and pride without being criticized. In the US, the national anthem is always played before any event, as small as this might be, and both Republicans and Democrats come together in taking the hat off and putting their hand in their heart. The love for the Spanish flag or anthem is often taken as a political sign (“facha”) and debates like Catalonia’s only bring further confrontations.

Beyond any love or romantic idea for a united Spain (and Europe!), as a good economist, what worries me the most of a potential break-up is the financial aspect. Spanish stock exchange is down 4% this week and over 15 Catalonian companies have announced that they are moving their headquarters outside the region. If an – again - illegal independence is formally declared on Tuesday, I wouldn’t be surprised if people start fleeing the region, just like it is happening in London. What is worse, emigrants like me will be increasingly unsure of going back to a fragmented and weakened country we used to be proud of. 

This article forms part of the personal blog Global Islander. Opinions expressed here are of the author and are not intended to malign or defame any individual or organization. The writer bears full and sole responsibility for any views, errors and omissions, which he would be grateful to be informed about