Cn - Session 6 Transition To Present

Session 6: Modern Catalan Nationalism ► Catalan

Nationalism in Comparative Perspective ► IES

Barcelona ► FALL 2007 PROGRAM

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Instructor: Andrew Davis e-mail: [email protected] 1

The Spanish transition to democracy ► The

period when Spain moved from the dictatorship of Francisco Franco to a liberal democratic state. ► This period begins with Franco’s death on November 20, 1975, while its completion has been variously said to be marked by the Spanish Constitution of 1978, the failure of Antonio Tejero's attempted coup on February 23, 1981, or the electoral victory of the socialist PSOE on October 28, 1982. 2

The Provisional Generalitat (re-established 1977) ► 23

October 1977. Josep Tarradellas goes to Plaça St. Jaume and declares – ‘Ja sóc aquí’

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Modern Catalan nationalism ► Generalitat

re-established under a minimum-consensus model. ► Compromise between left-wing parties and Catholic nationalists. ► Policies of integration and social cohesion were agreed to allow ‘new Catalans’ to support autonomy. 4

First autonomous elections 1980 ► Won

by Jordi Pujol and CiU, a federation of two parties, Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya (CDC) and Unió Democràtica de Catalunya (UDC). ► Moderate, nationalist, non-separatist. ► Pujol controlled the Generalitat for 23 years. So long that ‘autonomy’ in the modern sense is almost inextricably linked to CiU’s goals. 5

Convergència i Unió (CiU) ► Convergència

i Unió (CiU) is in fact a federation of two parties, Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya (CDC) and Unió Democràtica de Catalunya (UDC). ► CDC was founded under the failing years of the dictatorship by Jordi Pujol, who became its candidate for the Generalitat in the first autonomous elections in 1980. CDC is a centre-right party, although this misrepresents its raison d’être, which emphasizes moderate Catalan nationalism within the Spanish state. ► They do not advocate independence from Spain.

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Unió Democràtica de Catalunya (UDC) ► Their

junior partner, Unió, was formed in 1931 by former members of the preCivil War centre-right Lliga Regionalista, and has a nationalist, Christian Democratic outlook.

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CiU ► CiU,

as a whole, has seen itself as the revitalizing engine of Catalonia – primarily of its culture, language and its economy. ► They have used horse-trading combined with threats and compromises. At other times they have used more unorthodox approaches, such as their previously mentioned support of governments at the state level. ► Lastly, CiU has, probably most impressively, pushed its politics outside Catalonia, and indeed of Spain.

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What does CiU believe? ► ‘Catalonia

possesses a differentiated identity based on language, culture, social cohesion, collective consciousness, common project and country pride, opposing absorption and homogenizing policies’. ► Not ethnic or racial claims ‘Everyone who lives and works in Catalonia and has the wish to be so and feels tied to this land, is Catalan’ ► Nation without a State – stateless nation. 9

CiU and Spanish Politics Operación Roca ► They

often reiterate that they want to be part of a multinational Spain, and to take part fully economically, politically and ideologically

► This

came most obviously in 1983, when Pujol’s deputy (Miquel Roca) was given mandate create a Spain-wide party- Partido Reformista Democrático. It would run candidates across Spain. Attempt to ‘Catalanize Spain’, or participate in Spain by taking the lead. This was dubbed Operación Roca

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CiU and International Politics ► Jordi

Pujol has been one of the most recognizable, and well-travelled, regional premiers in Europe, functioning as one of the ambassadors of the ‘nations without states’, and lobbying for a ‘Europe of the Regions’ within the European Union. ► Emphasized Catalonia’s ‘Europeaness’, partiuclarly its Carolingian (i.e. Charlemagne) roots. 11

Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya (PSC) ► The

Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya (PSC) is a member of the federal Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE). The Spanish Socialist party is the oldest party in Spain, founded in 1879. ► PSC is the product of the division and realignment of various left-wing forces which survived the Civil War and the dictatorship in exile, taking its present shape in 1978. ► They have had notable success in Catalonia since the restoration of democracy both at the municipal level as well as at the Spanish one.

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PSC ► ►

►

The missing link until recently was the Generalitat, which have controlled (in coalition) since 2003 Centralizing tendencies within PSOE during the 1980s and corruption scandals in the 1990s did not make it easy for the PSC at the autonomous level. This was exacerbated by a formidable and popular Jordi Pujol, who consistently made the case to voters that a vote for the PSC was a vote for Madrid, while a vote for CiU was a vote for Catalonia – entrenching the idea that only a party based in Catalonia could properly defends its interests. 13

Partit Popular de Catalunya (PPC) ►

►

The Partit Popular de Catalunya (PPC) is the Catalan branch of the conservative Partido Popular. The PP was founded by Manuel Fraga, ex-minister under the Franco dictatorship and ex- President of the autonomous community of Galicia. The PP’s surge from a minority party in the early 1980s to victory in the 1996 general elections and finally to an absolute majority in the 2000 elections confirmed their presence as Spain’s dominant rightwing party. This impressive growth in Spain in general, however, has not produced similar results within Catalonia. 14

PPC ► Their

best results in the autonomous elections in Catalonia, just over 13 per cent in 1995, pales in comparison to their results in the other regions of Spain. ► Its Spanish nationalist rhetoric, centralizing tendencies and hard-line stances on issues such as autonomy and Basque terrorism – issues which served the PP well enough in the rest of Spain to give them an absolute majority in the 2000 general elections – have not resonated in Catalonia. 15

Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) ►

►

Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) was founded to unite left-leaning Catalan republicans in Barcelona in 1931. Its success as the governing party of the Generalitat during the Second Republic (1931-1939), first under Francesc Macià and then under Lluis Companys, was ended by Francoist forces when they executed Companys and ended the Republic, dissolving the party system and the Generalitat. With the restoration of democracy, Pujol and CiU beat a disorganized Esquerra to the nationalist vote, while the Socialists captured the left-leaning vote, which left Esquerra, after a decent result in the first elections of 1980, unable to break the 10 per cent barrier in Catalan autonomous elections until 2003. 16

ERC ► In

the context of Balkan and East European independence, ERC re-defined itself as proindependence for Catalonia (in 1991), for the first time. ► Esquerra is a party which paints itself as pragmatically pro-independence, while their adversaries describe them as a populist and potentially destabilizing force in democratic Spain. The reality is somewhere in the middle. 17

ERC ► They

are pragmatic in that they insist on effecting change peacefully and democratically, and do not discount working with state-wide parties such as the Socialists to achieve their goals. ► Just as CiU held the keys to minority governments at the Spanish level, ERC recently has been the king-maker in Catalonia, deciding to form a government either PSC or CiU. 18

Iniciativa per Catalunya Verds – Equerra Unida i Alternativa (ICVEUiA)

► Iniciativa

per Catalunya Verds – Equerra Unida i Alternativa (ICV-EUiA) is the lengthily named ideological inheritor to PSUC (Partit Socialista Unificat de Catalunya or the Catalan Communist party). ► As with other western European communist parties, estrangement with an increasingly unpopular Soviet Union during the 1980s created splits and instability, which continued until the party regrouped in 1987 under the more politically-correct name Iniciativa per Catalunya (IC).

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ICV-EUiA ► Tension

between the Catalan party and their federal partners in 1997 caused another split, causing ICV and EUiA to present separate lists in the 1999 campaign, with disastrous results. ► Its complicated name, therefore, demonstrates its history of divisions and rapprochements and is currently made up of the re-healed coalition between EUiA (which is a federal partner of Izquierda Unida, IU, the Spanish left-wing coalition of parties led by the Communists) and their Catalan counterparts (ICV), all under the banner of eco-socialism.

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The Catalan ‘Model’ ► To

preserve self-government and national identity; ► To guarantee internal cohesion; ► To ensure economic survival in the globalized market; ► To promote and strengthen the power of the regions within the European Union 21

4 characteristics of the Catalan model ► Moderation ► Civic

Regionalism ► Functionalism ► International Orientation ► How

do you interpret these characteristics? 22

Further Characteristics of the model ► Pragmatic,

and moved progressively ► Bargain, Exploit opportunities ► Conservative – does not seek to recreate unstable conditions (historical memory)

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Post-CiU ►

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The Tripartite government (PSC, ERC, ICV-EUiA) took over the Generalitat under the banner of being Catalanista and d’Esquerres (Catalan nationalist and left-wing) The new Catalan estatut (or the statute which defines the Catalan institutions and its autonomous competencies, as well as Catalonia’s relationship with the central government) was passed by the Spanish Parliament on 30 March 2006, and ratified by referendum in Catalonia on the 18 June 2006. The creation of a new statute was theoretically important as it redrew the competencies of the Catalan government, as well as the delineation of the relationship between the Catalan and central government. 24