Catalonia is often compared to Scotland in terms of it's constitutional settlement. Like Scotland, Catalonia is a nation with it's own devolved administration within an existing state. The Catalans have a lot more power that the Scottish Parliament already and their relationship to Scotland is akin to that of the Scottish Parliament compared to the Welsh Assembly. The Welsh Assembly look at the law making powers of the Scottish Parliament with envy and the Scottish Parliament looks at Catalonia as a model for what further devolution of powers could achieve.
The Catalan Parliament recently held a vote where the overwhelming majority backed calls for recognition of Catalan nationality and for full control of it's taxation system, or full fiscal autonomy as it is known in Scotland. The Spanish Parliament in Madrid has agreed to open negotiations with the Catalans over the future relationship between the two and the possibility of further autonomy.
This move has been welcomed accross mainstream European nationalist parties who see this as a useful precedent. It remains to be seen whether the First Minister of Scotland will be happy to continue to cite Catalonia in light of this information, which is bound to please the Scottish National Party no end. Further devolution of powers to Scotland is once again firmly on the agenda.
Sunday, November 06, 2005
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