CATALONIA -- Catalan leader warns Madrid on economy - FT.com
A senior leader of the Catalan independence movement has warned Spain that it faces a backlash from international investors – and renewed market pressure over its debt load – if it refuses to allow an independence referendum in the northern region.
The remarks by Oriol Junqueras, the leader of the Catalonia’s Esquerra Republicana party, mark a new escalation in the simmering conflict over the region’s political future. They are designed to raise pressure on Madrid by linking the independence debate directly to what the government of Mariano Rajoy regards as its principal achievement to date – lifting Spain out of recession and winning back the trust of international investors.
Spanish government debt
“The Spanish state has €1tn of debt. This debt will have to be paid with our taxes, so I don’t believe that the best way for the Spanish state to meet its financial obligations is to clash with its own citizens,” Mr Junqueras told the Financial Times in an interview.
