With the latest secessionists developments in Catalonia, the Canadian identity politics model is the one for fractured Europe to follow.
The world is looking at Spain. What is happening there? Why is Catalonia trying so hard to get separated?
Catalonia has its autonomy and one of the best regional economies of Spain. Economically, Catalonia is in a better position than the other regions and is not willing anymore to share this wealth. The second reason is that Catalonia wants to be independent in its policy-making. But if you have followed the recent independence movements in Europe, in many instances in the case of Britain, the financial motivations appear to be the true reason for wanting independence.
A clear example was the woman farmer who had argued that her farm would not survive without EU money, but in the next sentence, she said she had voted against the EU as she expects to get more money from the British government once they leave the EU. The latest example of independent movements fuelled by economic motivations is the wealthy northern part of Italy that voted for “liberation”.
Fake news and facts make a combination that could have an unprecedented impact on the world, including seccessionsim.
Many people will make massive profits of the separatist tendencies increasing in popularity in Europe. It is either to create places outside the European law or to invest in a continent that seems weak at the moment.
Catalonia is part of Spain. Everyone speaks Spanish even though they also speak Catalan. They have their own football team, FC Barcelona. It resembles California. Perhaps one day California would want to have the Spanish language as official language, or it also just tries to have its wealth spend in the region and not in Washington anymore.
It is us, the Europeans to blame for the current situation and not any external powers which might have spent money to support ideas of separatism.
“Europe of Regions“
Separatism is a no-go word in Europe at the moment. But it could also be a chance. The European Union has a subcategory called “Europe of Regions“ which can be a model of success. Politicians are concentrating on nations because the “European citizen“ and the “regional citizen“ are not generally seen as able to survive without the “national citizen”.
My hope for Europe is that it recognizes its power and for the citizens to acknowledge that they are Europeans after all.
Europe could take Canada as an example to find a solution. Canada faced the same independence tendencies with its French-speaking regions. Its solution was simple and genius. They granted them so much freedom that independence was not an option anymore. Why can’t Canada be a solution?
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