There's 36 pages to trawl through but can someone explain to an ignorant cretin exactly what has instigated this independence bid? I'm due to holiday in Malaga in early 2018 and would welcome a heads up.
Is Spain looking at a 50/50 split here or is it more convoluted?
More convoluted.
When Spain became a democracy Catalunia, the Basque country and Galicia all asked to have more autonomy from the central goverment than the other 14 autonomous regions such as Aragon, Murcia et al, on the grounds that they were in essence not Spanish or at least had some other national identity. They have their own languages, culture. I would say that Galicia is slightly more Spanish. In fact Franco as well as the current PM are Gallegos.
Andalucia actually had a referendum in the 80s to get the same autonomy as Catalunia, Pais Vasco, Galicia on the grounds that it is the largest and most populous region of Spain.
Quite a few of the "Spanish" regions resent what they see as privileges given to the Catalans, especially as it is the richest area of Spain. The Partido Popular, think Conservative party in the UK, rolled back some of these privileges when they came to power. This caused an upsurge in popularity for the pro Independence Catalan parties who felt sufficiently emboldened last month to hold a referendum albeit an illegal one.
In terms of numbers I think there is a small majority for independence but this may have grown due to the Spanish governments actions recently.
In the background there are also the ghosts of the civil war and the subsequent dictatorship. Catalonia played a central role in the Republican movement and the fact that the current Spanish government contains quite a few politicians who would certainly have been pro Franco had they been born in earlier times just adds fuel to this stand off.
