Catalonia’s ousted president has traveled to Brussels and been offered asylum, Spanish authorities said Monday soon after indicating that prosecutors were filing charges against him and other regional leaders related to their declaration of independence last week.
Spanish prosecutors in Madrid said they were asking judges for rebellion, sedition and embezzlement charges against Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont and others who were dismissed by Spain’s central government.
Puigdemont and a majority of Catalonia’s parliament declared independence Friday, but the Spanish government then fired them under a special constitutional provision and called new regional elections Dec. 21.
The attorney general, José Manuel Maza, did not order their immediate arrest, saying he wanted to urgently prosecute the 20 politicians and ordering them to appear in court in Madrid in coming days.
More @ LA Times
I kind of want Catalans to secede - the Basque too.
ReplyDeleteSmall polities could recombine later or remain separate. And this gives smaller polities the option of voting in right-wing governments, even if they're too small economically to stand fully free of the EU. The Swiss do all right, and they're somewhat decentralised. Switzerland formed from odd small cantons joining together.
Spain seems to be making Lincoln's mistake: You can't force a people to remain unified. Tolerating a breakup is perhaps the best way to maintain goodwill.
A right-wing Spain would change Europe. Spain seems trapped, like Greece, by debt. But a lower standard of living doesn't mean starvation. It seems to me Spain could persevere and even thrive.
I suppose you also have the example of Ireland. It broke away from the English so it could be free to flood itself with immigrants. And the Scots seem to desire independence so they too can commit immigration suicide. It's remarkable to see small polities willfully destroying themselves.
In theory the EU should have more difficulty managing many tiny small states though. And small states could combine into a different union or confederacy - or trade pact, whatever.
Spain seems to be making Lincoln's mistake: You can't force a people to remain unified. Tolerating a breakup is perhaps the best way to maintain goodwill.
DeleteSecession now, more than ever. :)