Spanish
life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable.
-
Christopher Howse: A
Pilgrim in Spain.
Life
in Spain
- So, we move to the next stage of the madness being enacted between Barcelona and Madrid. The Spanish government will now proceed to the implementation of Article 155 of the Constitution and take over the running of the Catalan region. Though no one knows exactly when and how. One commentator has predicted a long period of trench warfare before the parties return to the negotiating table. Another has talked of Spain being on the brink of explosive confrontation.
- One possibility is that regional elections are called for Cataluña - presumably by the Spanish government acting under Art. 155. What the outcome of this development would be is anyone's guess. And Sr Rajoy could well experience a reverse as a result of alienating many Catalanas who previously wouldn't have voted for nationalist parties.
- Meanwhile, the number of companies abandoning Cataluña - on paper at least - has risen hourly and now stands at 'more than 800'.
- The tourism industry in the region is suffering particularly badly, with bookings for the next few months 20-30% down on last year's.
- For those (few) interested, here's how sedition is defined in the Spanish Criminal Code. Google's translation:-
Article 544
Seditionists are those who, without being included in the crime of
rebellion, rise publicly and tumultually to prevent, by force or
outside legal channels, the application of the Laws or any authority,
official corporation or public official, the legitimate exercise of
their functions or compliance with their agreements, or
administrative or judicial decisions.
Article 545
1.
Those who have induced, sustained or directed the sedition or appear
in it as its principal authors, shall be punished with imprisonment
from eight to ten years, and from ten to fifteen years, if they were
persons constituted in authority. In both cases, absolute
disqualification will also be imposed for the same time.
2.
Outside of these cases, the penalty of four to eight years in prison,
and the one of special disqualification for employment or public
office for a period of four to eight years.
- As one authority puts it:- Sedition does not consist, in the most representative democracies, of peaceful protests against the government. Spain, though, is different.
Today's
Cartoon:-
No, but seriously . . . |
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