The Wall Street Journal - 19.10.2019 - 20.10.2019

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. **** Saturday/Sunday, October 19 - 20, 2019 |A

In the evening, the protests

in central Barcelona turned vi-

olent when riot police clashed

with masked protesters who

erected makeshift barricades

and set trash cans on fire, us-

ing slingshots to hurl rocks and

debris. Police responded with

tear gas and rubber bullets.

Friday marked the fifth and

biggest day of protest since

Spain’s Supreme Court on Mon-

day sentenced nine Catalan

separatist politicians to be-

tween nine and 13 years in

prison for their role in an illegal

2017 independence referendum.

Former Catalan leader Car-

les Puigdemont, meanwhile,

turned himself in to Belgian

authorities after Spanish au-

thorities issued a Europe-wide

warrant for his arrest. He was

released pending a decision by

Belgian authorities on Oct. 29

on whether to extradite him.

Barcelona has seen acts of

violence and vandalism all

week. Authorities say around

400 people have been injured

and 128 detained since Monday

across Catalonia.

“They want to stop us from

achieving independence,” said

Elisenda Paluzie, the leader of

Catalan National Assembly, a

separatist group that helped

organize Friday’s marches.

Catalonia, a region of 7.

million people, is Spain’s

wealthiest and has long har-

bored separatist sentiment. It

has its own language and sig-

nificant autonomy on health

care and education. The region

also manages its own police.

The renewed calls for inde-

pendence are testing the ap-

proach of acting Prime Minis-

ter Pedro Sánchez, whose

Socialist party supports dia-

logue with Catalonia’s separat-

ists. In response to the latest

unrest, Mr. Sánchez said the

Spanish state would defend

the right to demonstrate

peacefully “but will not toler-

ate the imposition of violence.”

Catalonia’s pro-indepen-

dence regional government

also condemned the violence,

blaming it on infiltrators.

The region’s leader, Quim

Torra, said he would call for a

second referendum on Catalan

independence if other Catalan

parties agree.

In an interview with The

Wall Street Journal on Friday,

he said he wanted more con-

cessions from Madrid on Cata-

lan self-determination.

“I think Spain has to listen

to this outcry for justice and

freedom and has to make a po-

litical proposal,” he said.

BARCELONA—Hundreds of

thousands of protesters con-

verged in Barcelona for a gen-

eral strike, paralyzing the city

as violent clashes erupted

amid renewed calls for Catalo-

nia to secede from Spain.

The latest wave of unrest,

triggered by the jail sentenc-

ing of separatist leaders this

week, has made the longstand-

ing issue of Catalan indepen-

dence once again central to

Spain’s political debate as the

country heads to parliamen-

tary elections on Nov. 10.

Mass demonstrations start-

ing out from different parts of

Catalonia streamed into the

regional capital Barcelona on

Friday, blocking major boule-

vards amid heavy police pres-

ence. As of Friday evening, 58

flights had been canceled.

Outside the city’s best-

known monument, artist An-

toni Gaudí’s Sagrada Familia,

hundreds of protesters draped

in pro-independence flags

gathered to call for the release

of their political leaders,

chanting “Our sentence is inde-

pendence!” and other slogans.

In response to the rally, the ba-

silica was closed for the day.

BYMARGHERITASTANCATI

ANDPIETROLOMBARDI

Protests for Catalonia’s

Secession Draw Violence

Catalan demonstrators blocking a road in Sant Just Desvern, Spain, Friday as part of a general strike.

JUAN MEDINA/REUTERS

Looser Ties

BorisJohnson'sBrexitdeal

impliesamoredistantfuture

relationshipbetweentheU.K.

andtheEUthanTheresaMay's

oranabruptsplit.

Source: UK In A Changing Europe

–10% –5 0

May

Johnson

No-deal exit

Tradeeffectsonly

Includingestimated

productivityeffects

–1.7%

–2.

–3.

–4.

–6.

–8.

Estimated change in percent

in U.K. GDP per capita after 10

years vs staying in EU

WASHINGTON—An interna-

tional plan to reshape corpo-

rate taxation for the digital

age drew support from finance

ministers of the largest econo-

mies as the proposal’s authors

begin working through mess-

ier details.

The Group of 20 finance

ministers and central bankers

considered the plan Friday and

welcomed recent progress, ac-

cording to a statement from

Japan’s finance ministry,

which led the talks. The G-

urged the process forward,

calling for an agreement on

the outlines by January. Offi-

cials have been aiming for a

full political consensus by

June 2020, followed by

changes to individual coun-

tries’ laws and treaties.

“The goal is to move as fast

as possible—if we have politi-

cal agreement,” said Pascal

Saint-Amans, the senior tax

official at the Organization for

Economic Cooperation and De-

velopment, who is running the

process.

Countries are debating new

global rules to coordinate cor-

porate taxes, in response to

concerns that tech companies

avoid taxes in jurisdictions

where they have customers but

report little profit. Without an

agreement, countries will con-

tinue creating unilateral taxes,

such as France’s new levy on

digital companies, which ap-

plies a 3% tax on revenue.

Even as G-20 finance minis-

ters gathered in Washington,

Italy’s government this week

confirmed it would impose a

similar 3% tax on revenues of

companies providing digital ser-

vices, a levy known as the “web

tax” that will hit large U.S. com-

panies. Spain, the U.K., Austria,

Australia and Chile have an-

nounced similar actions.

BYRICHARDRUBIN

Nations

Support

Corporate

Tax Plan

LONDON—British Prime

Minister Boris Johnson wooed

lawmakers in a last-minute

charm offensive to win a deci-

sive parliamentary vote on his

Brexit deal on Saturday, focus-

ing on wavering euroskeptic

Conservatives and opposition

Labour Party lawmakers.

A win would mark an aston-

ishing political victory for the

Conservative Party leader and

pave the way for the with-

drawal from the European

Union of the bloc’s foremost

military power and second-

largest economy. A defeat

would likely mean another de-

lay to a Brexit saga that has

already lasted more than three

years and transformed the

U.K.’s normally staid politics.

Parliament is due to sit on

the weekend for the first time

since the 1982 Falklands War

to consider the revised Brexit

plan agreed upon by Mr. John-

son and European leaders on

Thursday. The vote is likely to

come down to just a handful

of ballots either way. Mr.

Johnson lacks a majority in

Parliament and needs to bring

on board party rebels and po-

litical opponents to prevail.

Mr. Johnson has already

lost his party’s Northern Irish

allies. Many of the pro-Brexit

Conservative lawmakers who

opposed a deal negotiated by

Mr. Johnson’s predecessor

have made positive noises but

have yet to commit. Opposi-

tion Labour lawmakers repre-

senting Brexit-backing dis-

tricts will be pivotal to his

success or failure.

Conservative whips were

working overtime to build

support on Friday. Downing

Street officials said that an ef-

fort to reach out to Labour

lawmakers who support Brexit

BYJASONDOUGLAS

ANDMAXCOLCHESTER

was also under way and that

the prime minister was spend-

ing the day on the phone to

win over potential supporters.

The government’s biggest

selling point: Britain can fi-

nally turn the page on a politi-

cal psychodrama that has

dominated the country’s poli-

tics since 2016. “This is the

opportunity to get Brexit

done, to turn the page and to

allow the country to move for-

ward,” Foreign Secretary Dom-

inic Raab told the British

Broadcasting Corp. on Friday.

A defeat would require Mr.

Johnson to seek a three-month

extension for Brexit to Jan. 31

under a law passed by Parlia-

ment last month in the teeth

of fierce government resis-

tance. Withdrawal has already

been twice postponed.

A delay would set the stage

for a national election in the

coming months. Mr. Johnson,

who has gained ground in polls

WORLD NEWS

since taking office in July, is

hoping such a vote would de-

liver him the comfortable ma-

jority needed to get Parliament

to endorse his Brexit plan.

For now, the ruling Conserva-

tives have 287 voting lawmak-

ers but Mr. Johnson will need

320 to get his deal over the line.

Mr. Johnson’s task will be

made harder by the opposition

to his deal of Northern Ire-

land’s Democratic Unionist

Party. Ostensibly Conservative

allies, the DUP on Friday said

its 10 lawmakers would vote

against Mr. Johnson’s with-

drawal package in Saturday’s

vote because it treats North-

ern Ireland differently from

the rest of the U.K. in areas

such as customs and tax.

One potential pool of votes

is the fervently pro-Brexit

wing of the Conservatives, of-

ten known collectively as the

European Research Group.

Mr. Johnson’s prospects for

winning over this group are

mixed. Some, such as Jacob

Rees-Mogg and Priti Patel,

were given government jobs

by Mr. Johnson and should

back the deal. A handful have

signaled they will support it.

Mr. Johnson’s charm offen-

sive will also focus on 22 for-

mer Conservatives who quit or

were kicked out of the party

for opposing the prime minis-

ter’s Brexit strategy. Many sup-

ported Theresa May’s Brexit

deal but clashed with Mr. John-

son over his early enthusiasm

for leaving without a deal. Now

that he has struck a deal, many

are likely to swing behind him.

The math means lawmakers

from the main opposition La-

bour Party will be critical if Mr.

Johnson is to prevail on Satur-

day. Six supported Mrs. May’s

deal in defiance of party or-

ders. Mr. Johnson will need to

persuade more than twice that

number to back his deal to win.

Johnson Presses for Brexit Backers

U.K. leader rushes to

assemble enough

parliamentary votes for

his deal to leave EU

Britain's Parliament on Saturday will vote on a revised Brexit deal. Above, a Brexit supporter and opponent in London on Thursday.

MATT DUNHAM/ASSOCIATED PRESS

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