Spain, bedeviled by a sagging economy rife with high unemployment rates, massive government debt and failing banks is facing a strong movement for Catalonian independence.Regional elections that include a Catalonian independence referendum are set on 25/11/2012 in Spain and pro-independence candidate Catalan President Artur Mas, who is expected to be re-elected as Catalonia’s top politician, is one of many pro-independence candidates polling high on election eve.
BRIEF HISTORY:
Catalonia, or the Catalonha region, is an autonomous community of Spain, with the official status of a nationality, and is Spain’s wealthiest region; however it is also the most indebted to the central government and has requested a five billion euro bailout.Nevertheless, many Catalans wish to part ways with Spain and point to their distinct language and culture as reasons to become their own sovereign state.
The fall of Barcelona on 11 September 1714 militarily ended the Habsburg(Royal House)claim to the Spanish throne, which became legal fact in the Treaty of Utrecht. Feeling that he had been betrayed, the new Bourbon king introduced the Nueva Planta decrees that incorporated the territories of the Crown of Aragon, including Catalonia, as provinces under the Crown of Castile in 1716, terminating their seperate institutions and rights, within a united administration of Spain.In the latter half of the 19th century, Catalonia became an industrial center; to this day it remains one of the most industrialised parts of Spain.
