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CULTURE

judiciary in order to create false ac- USD 5 billion loan requested by the more industrially diversified and
cusations of corruption and wrong- Spanish government from the Eu- more sustainable than in the rest of
doing against the Catalan pro-inde- ropean Central Bank to prevent the Spain (and many areas of the EU).
pendence leaders, that were regularly collapse of the banking system (and During the "crisis years", despite
"filtered" to the media during the crit- avoid an "intervention" by the EU), the systematic financial suffocation
ical periods prior to Catalan and a mere USD 500 million have been caused by the measures taken in Ma-
Spanish elections. This must be seen recovered from the banks (most of drid, Catalan exports have increased
in a political context in Spain charac- them controlled by political cronies). three-fold, and they have also aug-
terised by a proliferation of instances mented their added value and their
of corruption, indictments and ju- technological content. Presently, only
dicial proceedings against Span- "Catalonia is well one third of Catalan sales go to the
ish PP political leaders and officials Spanish market'. Catalonia continues
(as in the so-called "Arena'Gürtel" placed and has all the to attract international investments
and "Bankia" cases) involving some required technological and, according to the well-known
Presidents of Autonomous Commu- economist Jeremy Rifkin, "Catalonia
nities, town mayors, former treasur- resources and assets to is well placed and has all the required
ers of the Popular Party (accused of technological resources and assets to
having operated a parallel system of spearhead the "third spearhead the "third industrial revo-
illegal party contributions and kick- industrial revolution" lution" based on a collaborative and
backs for over 20 years) and even sustainable economic model, resil-
members of the Spanish royal family. based on a collabora- ient to climate change"'.
Moreover, after two general elections
held over the course of one year, the tive and sustainable But, what will be the effect of the "split-
PP has been incapable of securing a ting" of the huge Spanish debt bur-
stable majority. Spain is thus "man- economic model, resil- den on a newly independent Catalan
aged" by a caretaker PP government State? A recently published analysis of
ient to climate change"
that refuses to be accountable to the the "Economics of a Catalan Secession
elected representatives of the Spanish from Spain" reaches the following en-
Parliament (Cortes) and whose only lightening conclusions, based on dif-
objective seems to be to continue us- The rest will have to be shouldered ferent political scenarios':
ing the Spanish Constitutional Court by many generations of Spanish tax
as a tool to repress the claims and as- payers. Given the prevalence of cor-
1 See the journal "Elpuntavui", 3 October
pirations of Catalans while it goes on ruption scandals, indebtness and re- 2016.
exploiting them. pression, the worst case scenario for 2 "A New Economic Paradigm for a sus-
Catalans is, clearly, to remain part tainable Catalonia", a conference organ-
ized by Diplocat in Barcelona on 1 Octo-
The Economic Perspective: the of Spain. As we explained in the first
ber 2016.
"Splitting" of Spanish Debt part of this article, the nature of the
3 "Here are the economics of a Cata-
The Kingdom of Spain is riddled with Catalan economy is fundamentally lan secession from Spain", by Alfons
a huge unpayable debt. Presently, the different from the oligarchic canvas LOpez Tena and Elisenda Paluzie, Busi-
public indebtness of the country is prevalent in most areas of the Span- ness Insider UK, Feb. 24 2016 (http://
uk.businessinsider.com/economics-of-
just over 100 per cent of the Gross ish State. Catalan economic activity
catalan-secession-from-spain-201 6-
Domestic Product. From an over is firmly rooted in the real economy, 2?r=US&IR=T

INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMAT - DIVA 41