Kataloniji u čast - mogući referendoom

sorry, but i gotta share this again because the escape is flawless!pic.twitter.com/Z14fopIzki

— M. H Arsalai (@ArsalaiH) March 28, 2018

A Spanish court said Thursday it had found Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's Popular Party (PP) guilty of benefiting from a vast kickbacks scheme that saw PP politicians take bribes in exchange for contracts.

The Madrid-based National Court, which deals with major criminal cases, also sentenced businessman Francisco Correa, the brains of the graft network, to 51 years in prison and several former PP members to up to 38 years.  

The so-called "Gürtel" affair has for years been a thorn in the side of the conservative PP, which lost its absolute majority in parliament in 2015 partly because of corruption scandals.

The PP itself was not on trial for direct involvement in the scheme but was sentenced instead for having benefited from funds obtained illegally, which implies it may not have known where the money came from.

It has been ordered to pay back €245,000 ($290,000).  

The sentence also confirms the existence of a "slush fund" within the PP, "a financial and accounting structure parallel to the official one that existed at least since 1989," according to the 1,687-page sentence.

A separate trial is pending over the slush fund.  

Mariano Rajoy faced his last hours as Spanish prime minister Friday as he braced to lose a no-confidence vote and make way for his arch-rival Pedro Sanchez, leader of the opposition.

Bar any last-minute u-turn, an absolute majority of lawmakers as varied as Catalan separatists and Basque nationalists will vote the no-confidence motion filed last week by the Socialists over a string of corruption woes hitting Rajoy's conservative Popular Party (PP).

"Your isolation, Mr. Rajoy, is the epitaph of a political period, yours, which is over," Sanchez, a 46-year-old former economics professor, told parliament on Thursday during an intense day of sometimes acrimonious debate.  

"Today we're finally sending the Popular Party home," Pablo Iglesias, leader of far-left anti-establishment party Podemos, added.  

Still, his new government will likely be unstable given the sharp divisions between those who support his motion.   Sanchez has pledged to call a fresh election if the motion succeeds but only after governing long enough to restore "institutional stability".   In order to secure the success of the no-confidence motion, the Socialists, who hold just 84 of the parliament's 350 seats, have had to cosy up to parties as varied as Catalan separatist groupings or Podemos.

"The room for big economic policy shifts will be very limited, and early elections within 12 months are the most likely outcome," said Antonio Barroso, deputy research director at Teneo Intelligence.

Punto final para el mandato de Mariano Rajoy al frente de España.
Así fue la votación con la que el Congreso español aprobó su destitución: 180 diputados de los 350 que conforman la Cámara votaron a favor de la moción de censura del Pedro Sánchez https://t.co/QdzYCXNaYZ pic.twitter.com/E8t0Zf7mYS

— TN - Todo Noticias (@todonoticias) June 1, 2018

202 km "živog lanca", Baskijci traže referendum /FOTO


Madrid -- Desetine hiljada ljudi u Baskiji formirale su, uhvativši se za ruke, simbolični "živi lanac" u dužini od oko 202 kilometra.

Oni traže pravo na održavanje glasanja o nezavisnosti tog španskog regiona.

Iako većina stanovništva Baskije - koja već uživa visok stepen samoopredeljenja i, kao i španska pokrajina Katalonija, ima sopstveni jezik i kulturu - ne podržava nezavisnost, mnogi smatraju da bi tamošnjem stanovništvu trebalo dati pravo na glasanje.

Protest u obliku "živog lanca" organizovala je baskijska grupa "Gure Esku Dago" (u prevodu "u našim rukama"), a protegao se od Donostije, grada koji je poznat i kao San Sebastijan, do baskijskog parlamenta u Vitoriji (na baskijskom Gasteiz), prenosi Rojters.

Španska vlada, uz podršku Ustavnog suda, ostaje pri stavu da je bilo kakvo glasanje o regionalnoj nezavisnosti nezakonito.

Prema španskom ustavu, pisanom 1978. godine po okončanju režima Fransiska Franka, zemlja je nedeljiva, a prošlogodišnji pokušaj Katalonije da održi referendum o otcepljenju naišao je na oštre pravne protivmere.

Foto: Tanjug/AP/Alvaro Barrientos

Foto: EPA-EFE/Javier Zorrilla

Foto: Tanjug/AP/Alvaro Barrientos

Foto: Tanjug/AP/Alvato Barrientos

Foto: EPA-EFE/Jose Ramon Gomez

Spanish leader’s softly softly approach to Catalonia pays off
Pedro Sánchez takes sting out of the independence movement, but he’s playing a risky game.
By Diego Torres 10/4/18


MADRID — Pedro Sánchez is winning on Catalonia — but his approach is risky and could lead to a snap election.

The Spanish prime minister’s decision to take a softer stance toward Catalan separatists than his predecessor has accentuated the divisions among independence leaders in the region whose lack of cohesion was on display this week as they celebrated the anniversary of last year’s outlawed referendum.

On Monday night, some small radical groups — frustrated by Catalan officials’ failure to deliver on their promise of independence — clashed with regional police as they attempted to storm the regional parliament in Barcelona.

Regional President Quim Torra — who was both cheered and booed in the street on Monday — is struggling to keep separatist forces united. On Tuesday, he demanded Madrid come up with a plan for a secession vote before November.

“If a proposal to exert self-determination in an agreed, binding and internationally recognized manner isn’t on the table before November,” Torra warned, “independence [forces] won’t be able to guarantee the slightest stability for Mr. Pedro Sánchez in the Congress of Deputies.”

“The government doesn’t accept ultimatums,” was the response from education minister and government spokesperson Isabel Celaá.

On Wednesday, pro-independence Catalan lawmakers in the Spanish Congress said the decision to back legislation or otherwise will be taken by them, not Torra — and the two main separatist groups in the Catalan chamber approved a motion insisting on a referendum but without setting a deadline.

Radical lawmakers, however, have demanded further disobedience and the resignation of the Catalan interior minister because of the recent police response to protesters.

Fragile hold on power

Sánchez seized power in June thanks to the backing of the far-left Podemos as well as Catalan and Basque nationalist groups, on whose support in Congress he relies to pass laws. That includes the national budget for 2019, a key piece of legislation that the Cabinet will present in the coming weeks.

If Torra is as good as his word and manages to get a divided secessionist camp to rally against the Socialist government, it would present Sánchez with a stark choice: either end his term in 2020 with few achievements to boast of, or call a snap election. The prime minister admits that the latter is on the cards.

“If you prioritize conflict instead of cooperation, the term in Spain is over; we will go for elections,” Sánchez said at an event in New York last week.

“If there’s no budget in 2019, there will be elections in 2019,” said Enric Hernández, editor of Catalan newspaper El Periódico.

“It’s going to be difficult to keep governing without a budget,” said a Socialist lawmaker who wished to remain anonymous.

The lawmaker added that Sánchez must choose the right moment for a snap election as there is likely to be a regional ballot in Andalusia at the end of this year; local, regional and European elections are being held in May 2019; and the trials of Catalan separatist leaders are set to begin in the coming months.

Where former Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy took a hard line on Catalonia — and used force to crush the independence referendum — Sánchez has taken a softer approach. He offered to increase self-government in Catalonia and his ministers have reached agreements with their Catalan counterparts on various sectoral issues. Spanish ministers have advocated for the release of Catalan leaders in pre-trial detention and some officials have suggested that pardons be granted if independence leaders are jailed.

The conservative Popular Party and the liberal Ciudadanos have responded with a fierce campaign against Sánchez, whom they accuse of kneeling before the separatists. They’ve asked for the PM to reimpose direct rule in Catalonia, refused to endorse Socialists’ proposals in Congress and repeatedly called for an early general election.

But if Sánchez’s managing of Catalonia leaves him open to attacks from the right — with the potential to harm his electoral chances whenever a ballot is called — some believe that he has also weakened the independence camp.

“Separatism lives by conveying the feeling that Spain can’t be reformed,” said Hernández of El Periódico. Sánchez’s softer stance plus the failure of the secession push last year, and the inability of separatists to make good on their promises, he added, are causing the separatists to “lose control of the streets.”

A secessionist lawmaker, who asked to remain anonymous, argued that some independence leaders fear the Socialist government “may be able to calm down the climate of tension that we had with the Popular Party” and are prepared to act fast to prevent that from happening.

Pablo Simón, a politics professor at Madrid’s Carlos III University, said Torra’s ultimatum is proof of his weakness. He added that Sánchez is playing the “good cop role,” which generates doubt among independence forces.

The government is “betting on pro-independence leaders having learned a lesson,” Simón said.

https://www.politico.eu/article/catalonia-independence-pedro-sanchez-spain-softly-softly-approach-pays-off/

Reaction to Spain's sentencing of Catalan separatist leaders

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain’s Supreme Court on Monday sentenced nine Catalan separatist leaders to between nine and 13 years in prison for sedition over their role in the region’s failed bid for independence in 2017.

The three other defendants in the landmark ruling over a banned referendum and short-lived independence declaration were found guilty only of disobedience and not sentenced to prison.

Here are the main reactions:

CARLES PUIGDEMONT, FORMER HEAD OF CATALONIA’S REGIONAL GOVERNMENT:

“100 years in prison in total. An atrocity. Now more than ever ... It is time to react like never before. For the future of our sons and daughters. For democracy. For Europe. For Catalonia.”

ORIOL JUNQUERAS, FORMER DEPUTY LEADER OF THE CATALAN REGIONAL GOVERNMENT, SENTENCED TO 13 YEARS IN PRISON

“With this ruling, they want to destroy lives, behead parties and its leaders, stop and end a political and democratic movement and silence a whole people that wants to express in the ballot box. Democracy in Spain today has fallen and its powers act with revenge because they do not understand justice, politics or democratic processes”

JOSE LUIS ABALOS, TOP RANKING OFFICIAL FROM SPAIN’S RULING SOCIALISTS

“The sentence must be carried out and complied with,” the acting public works minister told public broadcaster TVE. “In Catalonia, there is a need for clear and responsible leadership on behalf of separatists.”

PABLO IGLESIAS, LEADER OF FAR-LEFT UNIDAS PODEMOS PARTY:

“With regard to the sentence, it is clear that there is consensus in the court that there was no violence, something that was evident to everyone, including the greatest adversaries of independence,” he wrote on Twitter.

He added: “But beyond the strictly legal debates, this sentence will go down in the history of Spain as a symbol of how not to deal with political conflicts in a democracy.”

PABLO CASADO, LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION PEOPLE’S PARTY:

“Pedro Sanchez must affirm today that he will not pardon those convicted ... We will be at the side of the government to preserve public order and to avoid violent attitudes in the streets.”

ROGER TORRENT, HEAD OF THE CATALAN REGIONAL PARLIAMENT:
“Today we are all convicted, not just 12 people. This sentence is an attack on democracy and the rights of all citizens. They imprison the speaker of parliament, the vice-president, the government councillors and civil society leaders, but also our freedoms,” he said on Twitter.

“We will turn sadness into energy. Without violence, we defend fundamental rights and freedoms. As we have always done, we will find the strength and intelligence necessary to resist the worst attacks and build scenarios of future and hope.”

RAUL ROMEVA, CATALONIA’S FORMER FOREIGN AFFAIRS HEAD, SENTENCED TO 12 YEARS IN PRISON:

“No sentence will change the political aspirations of millions of citizens, neither this sentence nor those to come.”

JOSEP RULL, FORMER REGIONAL GOVERNMENT COUNCILLOR, SENTENCED TO 10 YEARS AND SIX MONTHS IN PRISON:

“If they had judged us on the facts, they would have acquitted us. Because they have judged ideas, they have condemned us. Condemning us, they have condemned the 2.5 million Catalans who voted on October 1 in one of the most extraordinary exercises of democracy that Europe has seen in the 21st century.”

ASSEMBLEA NACIONAL CATALANA, GRASSROOTS PRO-INDEPENDENCE GROUP:

“Faced with a sentence that convicts the exercise of fundamental rights, we respond as a people! Stop, protest, take to the streets,” the organisation wrote on Twitter. “Against the sentence, independence!”

COMMITTEES FOR THE DEFENCE OF THE REPUBLIC (CDR), A GRASSROOTS SEPARATIST MOVEMENT:

“It is time to rise up against the authoritarian fascism of the Spanish state and its accomplices. It is time for the #PopularRevolt. Let us respond with disobedience, popular power and Republic!”

PERE ARAGONES, NATIONAL COORDINATOR OF POLITICAL PARTY CATALONIA’S REPUBLICAN LEFT:

“INJUSTICE. They have been to more than 99 years in prison, and we have all been sentenced. Democracy has died today in Spain, as (former Catalan parliament speaker) @ForcadellCarme says, let’s take care of ourselves. We will turn anger into strength, conviction and serenity,” he said on Twitter.

"Bona nit" dice Torra.#BarcelonaEnLlamas pic.twitter.com/okNpo29Wtw

— Agustín Martínez (@Agus_Martinez58) October 16, 2019

Seriously! What the hell is this?

Whatever you think of #Catalonia I think we can all agree that this kind of violence is completely unprovoked and unjustified pic.twitter.com/LhJOE9Q29A

— Thomas van Linge (@ThomasVLinge) October 19, 2019