Posted on 09/27/2015 5:31:36 PM PDT by Rusty0604
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) -- Pro-secession parties pushing for Spain's northeastern Catalonia region to break away and form a new Mediterranean nation won a landmark vote Sunday by capturing a regional parliamentary majority, setting up a possible showdown over independence with the central government in Madrid.
With 99 percent of the vote counted, the "Together for Yes" group of secessionists from across a broad political spectrum had 62 seats in the 135-member regional parliament.
Catalans are fiercely proud of their own distinct language and culture. Many who favor breaking away from Spain say their region, which represents nearly a fifth of Spain's economic output, pays too much in taxes and receives less than its fair share of government investment. Independence sentiment grew during Spain's near economic meltdown during the financial crisis.
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
What’s the next step??? We will be there in a few months....hope it’s a NEW country!!
later
It will be a fight with Spain, they will not want to lose tax revenue.
Well, good luck, I guess. I haven’t followed this closely, so I don’t know if the Catalans are even further left than the Spanish, or what.
I’d ask my friend from Spain, but I’m afraid she’d have another stroke.
It's my understanding that this is not like the recent Scotland independence vote. It's more like as if a group of pro-independence Texans got elected to the Texas legislature.
Yes, that’s exactly what it’s like. The next step would be for the regional parliament, with its new pro-secession majority, to pass an ordinance of secession, and then ... well, I don’t know what then. Negotiations with the national government of Spain, I guess, resulting in ... who knows.
RATS.
Which leads to an interesting observation. The West is all for self-determination. But only when it involves other countries, not their own.
Good point. I’ve been for Texas independence since the early 80s, myself.
If I were the new Catalan parliament, I’d be formulating a plan for independence that included transport, currency, mail, taxation, spending ... everything that you want to have in place before you propose full political autonomy. Establish a reasonable potential for economic self-sufficiency. (I don’t know how far they are from that.)
The comparison with Scotland is instructive: Scotland couldn’t support their welfare state for a year without subsidies from the rest of Great Britain.
Did you sign the petition for it to be put on the republican ballot for the TX primary?
I lived in Texas until 1995. I live in North Carolina now.
Oh, well you are welcome to come back!
My two oldest children were born in Texas. If the Republic is declared, I expect to get in as the mother of native-born citizens. (I have a skill, too!) If Oklahoma is included, that brings us up to six anchor-children.
They’re some anchor babies I like.
Anoreth is a gunner in the Coast Guard. William will graduate from UNC-Charlotte next spring with a degree in Marketing. My late father was an honorary Captain in the Texas Navy!
I didn’t even know TX has a navy.
It’s a symbolic navy, but (playing alternate-history) could be converted to real naval forces. Virginia didn’t have an army, until General Lee gave it one.
Consider this book, if you can find a copy. It’s rather dated, but not entirely irrelevant.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Ayes-Texas-Daniel-Cruz/dp/0345332822
Scotland Independence was better for England. It would be like Michigan cutting loose Wayne County and its neighboring leftist areas.
I agree, but for Scotland ...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.