Catalan Government blames scant growth on Rajoy’s centralizing policies

BarcelonaJuly 1760. The representatives of the ancient Crown of Aragon took advantage of the Parliament convened for the oath-taking of King Charles III to submit The Representation to the new Spanish monarch. This became the first list of grievances, which made the earliest claim in favor of the laws and language that had been repressed and abolished at gunpoint by Philip V. A similar operation, but more politically charged, occurred in 1885, with the document Report in Defense of the Moral and Material Interests of Catalonia, the list of grievances that the Cercle Català sent to Spain’s Alfonso XII denouncing centralism and neglect of Catalan industry.

In fact, references to these two historic precedents --with many later reoccurrences, notable among them the first attempt to work out the fiscal balances by Ramon Trias Fargas-- leads off the report Chronicle of a Premeditated Offensive, that the Catalan government analyzed yesterday, and that lists the attacks by Madrid against self-government in Catalonia. Yesterday it was enough for Vice-President Neus Munté to talk of "attacks" on Catalan identity, language, and culture, of the "financial suffocation" that prevents Catalonia’s economic recovery and has "impacted" on the welfare of citizens, and of "judicial persecution" of any initiative to do with self-rule. The latest of these being the suspension of all preparations of key state structures by the Constitutional Court (CC) on Monday.

This black book of recentralizing actions by Madrid will be distributed by the Government in a practical exercise of "sensitization" to education institutions both at home and abroad. Francesc Homs, Minister for the Presidency, will appear in Parliament --where PP representative Enric Millo yesterday angrily tore up the report before the press-- to present the findings of the 100-page document.

Deadlocked talks

Government denounces Spain’s unwillingness to negotiate

In the report the Catalan Government claims that since 1978 the Generalitat has sought to resolve conflicts with Madrid through dialogue and negotiated agreement. But the Spanish government, it explains, has "turned down all relations based on dialogue", especially regarding the latest Catalan Statute, the fiscal pact, and finally the right to self-determination. In fact, it notes that Madrid unilaterally froze Madrid-Generalitat bilateral relations in 2012. Despite this, however, Munté argued that the Government has always been willing to talk, an attitude that has always been characteristic of pro-Catalan politics.

Economic and financial suffocation

Chronic fiscal deficit and fianacial "discrimination"

The list of grievances stresses that the current finance system is "unfair" and "unsustainable", leading to the annual loss of 8% of GDP over the last 25 years. In 2011 alone 15 billion euros went to Madrid and never returned, the equivalent in that year to the entire expenditure by the Generalitat on healthcare, education, and welfare. In addition to that, the report mentions a "systematic" hindrance of all initiatives to find new sources of income, such as the one Euro per medical prescription charge and the tax on banks or nuclear facilities. A separate chapter is dedicated to the drastic reduction in earmarks for welfare and employment, and the debt of €3,967 billion from the third additional provision of the Statute that Madrid owes to Catalonia. It speaks of "discrimination", taking into account the levels of investment in Catalonia compared to other regions.

Regulatory centralization

Legislative action seeks to weaken self-government

While the report sees "inaction" by Madrid with regards to dialogue, it also detects legislative "hyperactivity" to undermine the Generalitat’s devolved powers. One of the main methods is an administration reform of that urges the dismantling of the regional Ombudsman offices and the Catalan Audit and Meteorological services, as well as constitutional challenges against Catalan regulations (the Catalan retail model and the decree against energy poverty). It also enumerates "attacks" on the Catalan school system, with the Wert Law representing the most aggressive thrust at the model of inclusive schools and Catalan-medium teaching.