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CATALAN INDEPENDENCE DEBATE

INDEPENDENCE

Spain PM to meet Podemos leader over Catalonia independence drive

Spain's conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy will on Friday hold talks for the first time with the leader of new far-left party Podemos in a bid to craft a unified response to a Catalan separatist drive, his office said.

Published: 29 October 2015 16:28 CET
Spain PM to meet Podemos leader over Catalonia independence drive
Pablo Iglesias will meet with Mariano Rajoy. Photo: AFP

Rajoy will meet with Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias at his official residence at 4:30 p.m. (1530 GMT), a government spokesman said.

It will be the first time the two leaders, staunch opponents from opposite sides of the political spectrum, meet since Podemos was created in January 2014.

Rajoy initially left Iglesias out of his planned talks with opposition leaders over Catalonia and the announcement of the meeting is seen a sign of the seriousness with which he views the separatist challenge.

On Tuesday, Catalan pro-independence parties said they would pass a resolution in early November in the regional Catalan parliament calling on the chamber to announce the formal start of secession from Spain and the formation of a new republican state of Catalonia.

The motion calls on the regional assembly to start working on legislation within 30 days to create a separate social security system and treasury.

It also says the process would not be subject to decisions made by the Spanish institutions, including the Constitutional Court.

No date was set for the Catalan parliament to vote on the motion, which presents a major challenge to the central government in Madrid.

'Time for new national pact'

Pro-independence parties won a majority of seats in the 135-seat Catalan parliament for the first time in elections last month.

But while they topped the poll, winning 72 seats, the pro-independence camp failed to win a majority of all votes cast — a fact emphasised by the central government in Madrid, which has fiercely resisted their push for independence.

Rajoy met with the leader of the main opposition Socialists, Pedro Sanchez, on Wednesday to discuss Catalonia and he is scheduled to meet with the leader of new centre-right party Ciudadanos, Albert Rivera, on Friday morning.

Sanchez backs a reform of Spain's constitution to make the country a federal state as a way to counter the Catalan separatist drive, a position supported by Iglesias.

“Rajoy has called me so we will meet tomorrow. We will explain that it is time for a new national pact, with dialogue and democracy,” Iglesias wrote in a Twitter message.

 

 

 

Podemos and Ciudadanos do not have any seats in Spain's parliament but polls show they are poised to make inroads in a December 20 general election.

Catalans' long-standing demands for greater autonomy have intensified in recent years, in tandem with the country's economic crisis.   

The region of 7.5 million people, with its own widely spoken language, accounts for a fifth of Spain's economic output.

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BEACHES

Why are Barcelona’s beaches disappearing?

Barcelona's much-loved beaches are losing between six and 10 metres of sand per year, but why is this happening?

Published: 16 June 2021 15:30 CEST
Why are Barcelona's beaches disappearing?
Barceloneta Beach. Photo: Pau BARRENA / AFP

Barcelona may be famed for its beaches and they may be one of its biggest tourist draws, but it hasn’t always been this way.

In fact, Barcelona didn’t used to have any beaches at all, just ports and seaside neighbourhoods. It wasn’t until 1992 when the city held the Olympic Games that these neighbourhoods were demolished and the beaches were created. 

What’s the problem?

Since 2017, the city’s beaches have been losing between six and 10 metres of width per year, according to a recent study by the Área Metropolitana de Barcelona (AMB).

This beach erosion means that every year there is less and less sand for residents and tourists to lie on and enjoy. 

This is not a new problem however and has been going on much longer than four and half years. In 2016, the Barcelona City Council revealed that since 2010 Barceloneta Beach had lost over 15 metres in width, which is equivalent to 28 percent of its surface area.  

In another 2016 report, the regional authorities of Barcelona also showed that its beaches as a whole had lost 17 percent of their total amount of sand during the same time period, the same as five football pitches.

Why is it happening?

The study attributes this to the fact that there have been more storms than normal since 2017, which has prevented the natural recovery of the beaches.

Storm Gloria in January 2020 in particular caused significant damage to the beaches in the area and caused even more sand to be washed away.

In short, most of this is to do with climate change. 

The beaches that have been most affected and have lost the most amount of sand are those in the lower Maresme region and the towns of Masnou and Badalona.

Barcelona beaches being destroyed during a storm. Photo: JOSEP LAGO / AFP

What’s being done about it?

The Barcelona City Council has been continually adding a little sand to its beaches each year and moving it around from areas that have more to areas that have less.

Aitor Rumín, head of the beach management service of the Barcelona Consistory told El Pais last month that “the last major contribution of sand was made by the ministry in 2010. Since then we have only lost sand”.

“It’s survival, but we can’t do much more. The beaches lose 30 cubic meters of sand per year, especially in the southern parts of each of the beaches. The coastline is receding and we have beaches like Mar Bella, Nova Mar Bella and Llevant, where we can’t do anything to regain the sand,” he said.

Badalona Beach. Photo: JOSEP LAGO / AFP

While moving the sand around and adding a little each year may help to cover up the problem in the short term, it’s not really helping solve the problem and a long-term solution needs to be found.

The Área Metropolitana de Barcelona have been trying to stop the beach erosion with their Resilience Plan, which will ask for greater contributions of sand to try and balance out the current losses and divide the beaches up with breakwaters.

In the case of Badalona, it has been proposed that 13,200 cubic metres of sand be added to the beach each year, as well as to rethink the layout of the equipment located on the seafront. The construction of a breakwater on La Mora beach has also been proposed.

In Sant Adrià, the plan is to build another breakwater, as well as to remove the jetty in front of the old industrial areas. The council also hope to add a further 95,000 cubic metres of sand.

It is thought that similar plans may be carried out on Barcelona’s other beaches.

Is this a problem anywhere else in Spain?

Yes, beach erosion is a problem throughout Spain, as well as throughout the world, due to climate change.

Theocharis Plomaritis from the University of Cádiz who was one of the co-authors of the Nature Climate Change study published in March 2020, told El Periodico that by the end of the century the retreat of the beaches in Spain and Southern Europe could be 86 metres, if no measures are taken to contain climate change. 

According to the study, in the best case scenario – with measures to mitigate the effects of climate – the loss of sandy beaches in Spain would be 60 metres and 27 of these metres by 2050.

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