280 / 344
270
The Socialists took power in a minority administration led by PSOE prime
minister
José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero
, forced to rely on parliamentary
support from Catalan separatists and other regional parties. A leftish coalition
in Catalunya itself soon raised the whole question of Catalunya’s status within
the Spanish nation, since Zapatero had previously promised to accept whatever
demands for greater autonomy emanated from the new Catalan parliament.The
consequent
statute of autonomy bill
, approved by the Catalan government
in September 2005 and sent to Madrid, opened up all sorts of national fault-
lines, as the bill sought to go well beyond Spanish constitutional limits, defining
Catalunya as a “nation” within Spain and claiming full tax-raising powers and a
parallel judicial system. Zapatero was immediately put under pressure from his
own PSOE party – many of whose members have no truck with Catalan sepa-
ratism – while there was predictable opposition from the PP and from much of
the Madrid-based media.More worrying was the rumble from a Spanish general
that the army might be forced to intercede if the Spanish constitution and
national unity were threatened – he was quickly sacked, but it’s a reminder that
military intervention in democratic Spain (as recently as 1981) is still considered
an option by some of the more extreme conservative forces in the country.
A watered-down version of the statue was
approved by referendum
in 2006,
increasing Catalunya’s tax-raising powers and redefining in general (though not
legal) terms the region as a “nation”. But it satisfied few, and the arguments are
not likely to go away, since the statute was subsequently contested in the courts
by other autonomous Spanish regions and by the PP. In 2008, it was still before
the Constitutional Court of Spain, pending a final judgement. Meanwhile, the
calling in early 2006 of a cease-fire by armed Basque separatist organization
ETA further put regionalism high on the Spanish national agenda.
In the end, Zapatero managed to fight the
2008 general election
largely
on his handling of the economy, and he and the PSOE were re-elected to
office, though with just short of an absolute majority. But regionalism in all
its forms won’t disappear, as underscored by a supposed ETA assassination of
a Basque politician during the election campaign. Zapatero, meanwhile, can
point to measures such as the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, an increase
in the minimum wage and maternity leave, and even the legalization of gay
marriage as evidence of a new direction for Spain. He just has to hope that
the economy – after a decade of high growth – doesn’t disintegrate beneath
him while he pursues the long-term structural reform that most analysts agree
Spain requires.
CONTEXTS
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A history of Barcelona and Catalunya