When I First Read This
…I thought they were still talking about Hawaii. But it was Spain creaking at the seams.
The wealthy semiautonomous Catalonia region gained sweeping new powers to run its own affairs Sunday, as voters overwhelmingly approved a blueprint that some fear could leave Spain’s government cash-strapped and powerless.
…At stake in the voting in this region, which considers itself a nation within a nation, were a much bigger slice of tax revenues collected in Catalonia, a say in the appointment of judges and prosecutors to courts run from Madrid and, critically, an indirect proclamation of Catalonia as a “nation.”
World Stuff | tree hugging sister | 
June 18, 2006 11:40 pm
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Don’t worry, they’ll always have ETA…
My husband is Spanish. He is so mad at Zapatero. He is a horrible president. He was only voted in because of the March 2004 bombings. Zapatero himself didn’t even think he was going to win. I lived there for about 4.5 years and we moved to the US a year ago. We will probably move back to Spain someday. It just makes me so mad what Zapatero is doing to the country! He is ruining Spain for all future generations.
Sara, a warm Swill welcome! And I’m so sorry ~ I’m sure it’s breaking your husband’s heart. I know we were foaming at the mouth mad here when they were floating the Hawaii proposal. I can’t imagine his frustration.
Stop being so dramatic. Catalonia is NOT on the brink of independence and Spain is not cracking at the seams. The “estatut” cleaverly pays lip service to the nationalist cause while not really conceeding all that much autonomy or independence when you relaly look at it.
The indepdence movement is estimated between 25-35% in Catalonia and if anything, this new move will bring down that number, not raise it.
A warm Swill Welcome, John! We are delighted to have your input, as it sounds like you have first hand knowledge of the situation.
(But I’m afraid I’m going to have to take a wee bit of exception to your accusation of ‘dramatics’. First, I said ‘creaking (to make a prolonged grating or squeaking sound)’, NOT ‘cracking’. Big, BIG difference. The second problem is that the ‘Catalonia as a nation’ quote is from the wire-service report, not me.)
I guess there are some hard feelings about this, judging by Sara’s comment and her husband’s reaction, so ‘creaking’ might have been apropos, n’est pas?