MADRID – For years, the Spanish government has considered the separatist movement in the Catalonia region to be little more than a “souffle” – easy to inflate, but then collapse on itself.
However, the movement shows no signs of imploding anytime soon, even in the midst of a pandemic that has reduced divisions in other parts of Europe.
In a regional election on Sunday, parties seeking to create a breakaway state for Catalonia – the part of northeastern Spain that includes Barcelona – have increased their majority in the regional parliament. They started negotiations this week to form a coalition.
Election attendance was drastically reduced by the coronavirus, but the final count showed pro-independence parties receiving the most votes – a prize that had long eluded them.
“From a pro-independence point of view, this is something to celebrate,” said Adrià Alsina, a political analyst at Barcelona who supports Spain’s departure. “It is one less argument for those who are against independence and say that we never obtained a majority.”
The independence of Catalonia, which was once the dream of a small group of people, has been Spain’s most polarizing issue in almost a decade. The impasse reached a boiling point in 2017, when the separatist government in the region organized an independence referendum. He went ahead even after Spanish courts declared him illegal and the police cracked down on voters.
The referendum was followed by a declaration of independence, which led Spain’s central government to overthrow the Catalan government and accuse its members of crimes, including sedition. Some of them fled Spain to avoid prosecution, while others ended up in prison.
Tensions rose in Catalonia this week on another front after the police arrested a popular rapper, Pablo Hásel, in the city of Lleida. Hásel, 32, whose real name is Pablo Rivadulla Duró, faces nine months in prison on charges that his rap lyrics glorified terrorism and denigrated the monarchy. Protests in support of it began Tuesday in Barcelona, Madrid and other cities, and have become violent.
Before Sunday’s vote, the central government led by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez dispatched his health minister, Salvador Illa, to run in the regional elections with a platform that focused on staying in Spain. He resigned his post in the national government and tried to capitalize on the prominence he recently gained as the face of the government’s response to the pandemic health crisis.
The strategy reaped some dividends: although Illa did not receive enough votes to form a government coalition, her party gained more support than any other.
The results also pointed to moderation within the pro-independence field. Among the pro-independence parties, voters favor Esquerra Republicana, a moderate left-wing party that supported the Sánchez government in Madrid, but remains firm that it wants an independent state.
Speaking to reporters after Sunday’s poll, Arancha González Laya, Spain’s foreign minister, said the situation in Catalonia seemed more “comfortable” from Madrid’s perspective, with left and more moderate parties flanking rivals on both sides. of the separatist division.
“There has been an advance for those who are more inclined to talk to the government,” said González Laya.
After the vote, the Spanish government said an independence referendum was not foreseen, even with separatist politicians in Catalonia insisting that demand should be at the center of any future negotiations with Madrid.
But a question that seems more open for discussion is whether Madrid could forgive nine politicians and activists who were arrested for orchestrating the secession attempt in 2017.
Carles Puigdemont, the president of Catalonia’s regional government at the time, fled the country to escape the charge. He now lives in Brussels and has since been elected a member of the European Parliament. He is fighting an attempt to lift his immunity as a member of that body, which could allow the Spanish judiciary to make a new attempt to extradite him.
Jordi Cuixart, one of the politicians who sought forgiveness after being sentenced to nine years in prison, said that “Spain has a democracy, but still maintains an anti-democratic attitude”. He said he not only wanted to be released from prison, but was asking the government to absolve him and others of any wrongdoing.
If there is any solution to the question of independence, it will take time, said Sandra León, a political scientist at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid.
Although the moderate wing of independence is likely to be in the driver’s seat, Puigdemont’s toughest party, Together for Catalonia, is likely to be part of the regional government as well.
Vox, a far-right Spanish party that made its anti-independence position a central issue, will also join the Catalonian Parliament for the first time, probably fueling further polarization, said León.
Catalan separatists are closely following movements in other parts of Europe, especially in Scotland, where the drive for independence was rekindled with Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union. Scots voted against independence in a 2014 referendum that was authorized by London, but they also voted against Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union.
“The independence movement is here to stay,” said Josep Ramoneda, a Catalan columnist and philosopher. “Sooner or later, someone in Madrid will have to recognize that.”