CATALONIA -- A European Nation Within Spain - WSJ.com

A European Nation Within Spain - WSJ.com:

Catalonia has a distinctive culture. Its people deserve to vote on self-determination.

 

I recently attended the spring conference of
the British Liberal Democrats. The party recommends a "no" vote in the
upcoming referendum on Scottish independence. I was struck, however, by
the language used by Lib-Dem leader Nick Clegg in his final speech: "We
are a family of four different countries," he declared of the United
Kingdom. "I want to see Scotland stay in our family of nations."

By
contrast, there is no significant party in Spain whose leader could
possibly use terms such as "country" or "nation" when referring to
Catalonia, whose people hope to hold their own referendum on
independence this November. We Catalans, the result of many waves of
immigration, have a long collective history and a distinctive culture.
Yet we aren't recognized in the terms Mr. Clegg used for Scotland.

We
admire the British position on the legitimacy of the Scottish
referendum. We wish that the Spanish government would act likewise. The
opportunity to do so is near. As in Britain, the Spanish parliament, the
Cortes, has been asked to delegate to the Catalan government the power
to organize a referendum on Nov. 9, 2014, on Catalan independence. In
contrast to the Scottish poll, ours would have three choices: to
maintain our "autonomous community" status quo; to become fully
independent; or to become a "state within Spain," the meaning of which
would presumably be settled as the outcome of a negotiation. The vote in
the Spanish parliament will take place on April 8. It is very unlikely
to succeed. 

 

 

A pro-independence demonstrator in Barcelona, January 2014.
Reuters