03 Oct 2012 11:03 PM:
I’ve lived here for over 20 years in both the capital and in villages. I was married to a Catalan from a very nationalistic background and have a son who has studied the past 16 years in the catalan education system.
I have loved living here over the past 20 years but recent events are certainly worrying and could in the long term determine whether I still feel I have a place here. Mr Mas is playing his part very well, making the most of what appears to be a “perfect storm” in that most Catalan political parties appear to be in disarray and amazingly Mas has managed to convince a large section of the population that the problem is not his cuts he has been implementing over the past 2 years but instead it’s the “anti-Catalan” Spanish central government that’s the problem. I do have sympathy for the idea of a re-negotiation of the percentage of Catalan GDP that is sent to spain in the form of “Catalan taxes”, 8% is quite steep but one can also the other side of the story in that maybe this is not the moment to be asking for concessions that are impossible to meet at the moment due to the current economic period we are in. However, like a spoilt child who doesn’t get his way, Mas decides that he is now on the independence bandwagon and voila, on top of an economic crisis and political crisis we now have on the horizon a social crisis as well. Mr Mas is “black belt” politician and always has a couple of aces up his sleeve and I’m not sure how far he is willing to take this, many don’t trust him and feel that he will eventually let all the independence seekers down in the long run….only time will tell.
What I find quite worrying are the questions that are being started to get asked about what would independence look like, strange there are not many answers as one would think that if there was a real desire for independence and with independence political parties like ERC and SI this would all have been investigated and close to hand – not so it would seem. For many people who support independence, their number 2 question, after the “would we stay in the EU” question is “in what league would Barça play in?”…… after hearing that I’m not sure I can take all this seriously enough! Anyway, I myself have asked what would independence look like for me and how would it affect me? EU membership still valid? Currency to be used? Currency devaluation? My pension? Is the new state viable? Who in Europe would be support the new state? What languages would be official? How much business would be lost or gained? Could there be new opportunities for ex-pats in the new state? Etc etc etc….. We definitely don’t have answers to all the questions, I am sure we are going to have to put up with debate after debate after debate on this subject for many years to come….yes years! It’s pretty clear that centralist parties in catalunya will loose heavily in the next elections and nationalist parties will gain so we’ve got this for years to come.
To sum up…. I preferred CiU when they were less nationalist, they had my support to get better fiscal agreements but I believe they have set us on a road into the unknown which is something dear to many catalans – I am not catalan so therefore I prefer to make my own mind up based on facts, currently they haven’t convinced me. I can only hope in the long term that politicians from both sides come to their senses and sit down and negociate. What we need are jobs, growth, stability and above all strong political leaders who leave prejudices behind them and understand the other ones point of view and above all negociate. If Catalunya really wants independence them get the facts on the table, convince the MAJORITY of the population and don’t concentrate on the “patriotic” emotional vote.
Thread:
Expats in Catalunya. What if.....?
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