They have
their own language, their own flag, and on Sunday, citizens of Catalonia could
be paving the way to having their
own country. Catalonia is Spain’s wealthiest region. Separatists there say they
would be better off cutting ties
with Madrid and the rest of Spain and local elections Sunday could put those separatists
in power. The BBC reports:
“As Catalonia’s economic crisis has worsened,
the regional government has almost run
out of money. That has galvanized support for Catalan
nationalist parties. The small town of Galifa, near Barcelona , has even
decided to send its federal tax money to the regional government instead. It’s
purely symbolic since the region will
just forward the money on to the
federal level but it’s another sign that Catalonians think they are ready to go it alone.
According
to financial services group Credit Suisse, Catalonia on its own would be
comparable in GDP per capita to the
average European Union nation . But Spain,
having lost its richest region, would drop to the likes of Greece and Portugal.
Sounds like
independence would work out well for
Catalonia, but the Washington Post says that doesn’t take all the economic consequences into account. If the
region did formally secede, it might
have to leave the euro and the EU, at least temporarily… Leaving the euro could
cause a lot of economic disruption and Catalonia’s regional government remains
highly indebted.
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