How to manage a Referendum

[OFSO]

Well I call him Charley. He speaks excellent English albeit with a strong accent.

[OFSO]

The investitature of President Puigdemont has been 'delayed'. As of Tuesday night large crowds are assembling behind freshly-erected security barriers in front of the Catalan parliament building in Barcelona.

[OFSO]

Well, the Prime Minister of Spain and his lovely pop-eyed deputy have won and the President of Catalunia elect, Carles Puigdemont, has withdrawn his candidacy. Nobody else wantsthirty years in prison on solitary confinement and bread-and-water the job so for the moment that's the end of the Catalan separatist movement.

I wonder just how long before Catalan eyes will come to rest on the way the Irish and the Basques gained most of what they were aiming for.....

[BenThere]

Spain is broke, just like the other Western European welfare states. Is there a way for the relatively prosperous Catalans to withhold their remittances to Madrid?

[OFSO]

Funny story. Over in Spain (Catalunia) I have been waiting for a month for a document from the Town Hall. Just heard they are having a "go slow" or better still a "go even slower than usual" for anything which might mean funds being passed from Catalunia to Spain. It's not official of course. (No !)

[OFSO]

Amnesty International now raising subject of political prisoners in Spain, over 90 days solitary confinement with no charges brought and bail refused. 'Course you can't
deny having done something if you are not charged with something. Clever, that.

[BenThere]

I was wondering, OFSO, if your income is secure. Could you have your pension redirected to France? Is that a consideration?

[OFSO]

It is no longer paid to Spain. I am only there on and off until the house is sold. Generally speaking the buggers in Madrid have cocked it all up for those foreigners silly enough to abide by the rules. I would recommend anyone living there to be strictly non-resident (as the tens of thousands of French living in north-eastern Spain are) and just have a holiday home.

Classic example. An elderly Englishman I met with multiple forms of cancer, legally resident, was advised by his Spanish accountant that upon his death taxes amounting to 45% of the property would be payable by his heirs. He sold the house (he was over 65 so no tax payable) resumed UK resident status, but is now living a few hundred yards away from his former house in Spain - in rented property where he hopes to spend his last few months.

One of many similar stories one hears.

[OFSO]

Two more Catalan politicians have fled to escape arrest, this time to Switzerland, where their Swiss lawyer says the warrant Madrid has issued for each will be denied as it's for political reasons and they will (probably) be granted asylum. Comment superfluous.

[OFSO]

Talking to a local in Barcelona he mentioned how many artists in various different areas have been hailed up by the courts on various charges of, how can I put it ? 'Disrespect to the government. ' Including a rap artist and two guys putting on a puppet show. He said freedom of artistic expression is no more in Spain.

[Schroedinger]

All has gone quiet from you OFSO. Are you in prison ?

[OFSO]

Not yet but toothbrush and pajamas are packed just in case !

[OFSO]

So the Spanish prime minister has got his way. Carlos Puigdemont who was elected in a democratic vote to be the President of Catalunia has had to resign from the elections, and another candidate who fits the categories designated by the Party Popular who rule Spain and appoint the judges and public prosecutors as necessary will be nominated and elected.

Another victory for Spain and EU democracy.

[OFSO]

So what has happened since the above post ? A new candidate has been elected to be President of Catalunia: his name is Jordi Sanchez. But a problem has arisen: since October 2017 he has been in prison in Madrid, guilty of sedition and rebellion. "Guilty" as they say, although he has not been charged with anything. Just 'in prison', solitary confinement etc. Needless to say, no date for a trial or even a hearing has been set.

An application was made to the High Court of Spain for his release on bail for next Monday to attend his investiture. However Judge Pablo Llarena ruled that although he has a right to participate in public affairs, the right can be curtailed if there is a risk of Sanchez reoffending, which by attending his own investiture, he will be doing.

And so, bail was refused.

Thus Spain's much-vaunted democracy takes yet another plunge downward. Along with the EU which - surprise, surprise ! - does absolutely nothing about political repression in a Member State. Which, on another theme, described demonstrations against unequal treatment of the Fair Sex on International Women's Day as "elitist" and "not representative of the common women" (Rajoy, PM).

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Does Habeas Corpus not exist in Spain?
It's my understanding that the European Convention on Human Rights, to which Spain is a signatory, requires this under Art5.(4)

4. Everyone who is deprived of his liberty by arrest or detention shall be entitled to take proceedings by which the lawfulness of his detention shall be decided speedily by a court and his release ordered if the detention is not lawful.

[OFSO]

The Government can do what it wants. Appeals have been denied and will continue to be denied. And nothing shows more clearly the fallacy of democracy in the EU: Spain is a strong supporter of the EU so the EU says nothing about the numerous abuses of human rights in the country.

"Speedily by a court...." ah yes, This in a country where it can take five to seven years for a matter to get to court.

[BenThere]

I'm hopeful the Spanish people will assert their democratic instincts and come to a fair resolution of Catalan aspirations for at least some autonomy if not full independence. The Rajoy strategy seems to be an assertion of raw power and authority against a popular movement. That's a recipe for disaster as I read the histories of nations. In civil wars everyone loses, and there is so much pain.

[svhar]

Those people are Spanish, whether some consider themselves Catalans, Kurds or whatever. If every ethnic group could get away with declaring independency, ignoring other people's rights that have been living there for centuries, hell would break loose. Rajoy is handling this perfectly.

[OFSO]

Try living in Spain. Better still, forget Catalunia and try living in La Coruña

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43344013

[OFSO]

Don't misunderstand me. I think the Spanish PM Rajoy is doing a fine job defending the Spanish Constitution and Spanish Law as it stands in 2018.That's his job for which he was elected (albeit by a minority of the population).

But in the same way as Hitler upheld the anti-Jewish laws such as the Nuremberg Laws in the 1930's, or the same way the British Government defended legal slavery, child prostitution and child labour laws in the 1800's, or the Belgians upheld the law in Africa in the 1900's......and such laws were removed from the books, the present Spanish constitution is out-of-line with modern democratic practice and with membership of the European Union. A more intelligent leader would have realised this by now and started the necessary reforms. Which, incidentally, would have completely defused the Catalan situation, and saved everyone a lot of fuss and bother, so say nothing of saving everyone money.