MADRID: An opinion poll has shown that more and more Spaniards are opposed to plans for upgraded autonomy for the northern region of Catalonia currently being debated in parliament.
Eighty per cent objected to the suggestion that Catalans might have rights and obligations different from those of other Spaniards, 59% opposed reference to Catalonia as a nation, and 60% rejected any attempt to make regional residents speak Catalan.
The survey last week of 800 Spaniards for the El Mundo newspaper follows a January 29 poll for the El Pais daily indicating 43% of Spaniards believed increased autonomy for Catalonia was a direct threat to Spanish unity.
In another poll published by the conservative newspaper La Razon on January 28 more than 61% of 800 respondents said more autonomy for Catalonia would hurt Spain and 56.75% said it could break up the country.
Spain’s governing Socialist Party of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and the moderate right-wing Catalan nationalist Convergence and Union have agreed on the terms of a new status for the region.
But they are bitterly contested by Spain’s main right-wing opposition Popular Party, which accuses the government of trying to dismember the country and wants a national referendum on the issue.
The El Mundo poll indicated that even a majority of Socialist Party supporters are against the plan.
In an interview published this week in the daily ABC, Zapatero repeated that the new statute for Catalonia would respect the constitution, denying it heralded moves towards a federal Spain.
More than 100,000 people marched in the streets of Barcelona last week demanding that Catalonia be recognised as a nation.
The demonstration was organised by the pro-independence movement Platform for the Right to Decide, and was supported by the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) independence party among others.
The ERC objects to the government’s draft law, which does not recognise Catalonia as a nation.
The ERC also says that it gives insufficient tax concessions to the rich region. – AFP |
