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Angel Smith is reader in modern Spanish S
history at the University of Leeds, and author
of The Origins of Catalan Nationalism,
1770 –189 8 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014)
the European market; the examples of
prosperous small European nations such
as the Netherlands, Belgium and Austria
were attractive.
Scottish parallels
In this respect, there are parallels
between Catalonia and Scotland. Both
territories demand independence within
the EU, and – not surprisingly – in both
cases the Spanish and UK governments
have countered that, if Scotland or Cat-
alonia became independent, they would
automatically find themselves excluded
from the EU.
However, in future years they
face rather different challenges. The
Scottish National Party has the problem
that, with the UK having left the EU,
independence would presumably mean
establishing a border between England
and Scotland. However, it has advan-
tages: British politicians have a more
pluralistic view of the UK than their
Spanish counterparts, and Scottish in-
dependence is not such an emotionally
charged subject for most British people
as Catalan independence is to the Span-
ish. In Spain, even if Pedro Sánchez
wanted to give Catalans a referendum
on independence, he would not be able
to do so because of the back lash he
would face.
Nevertheless, the fact that a leftist
coalition is in power, and that it needs
to woo the Republican Left of Catalo-
nia, does offer scope for compromise.
It will require, on the one hand, the
government to offer a new autonomy
statute and higher levels of public in-
vestment in Cata lonia and, on the other,
for the Republican Left to put inde-
pendence on the back-burner. Both the
Socialists and Republican Left would,
as a result, face charges of betrayal – but
the alternative is an ongoing conflict
with no solution in sight.
An illumination from the 12th-century Liber feudorum major. This important compendium of
documents relating to the Crown of Aragon details the early institutional history of CataloniaLeft-wing Catalan nationalists march in Barcelona in 1936. Liberal governments had been willing
to grant a degree of autonomy to the region – which was later suppressed by Franco’s regimeCatalonia