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CATALONIA

Madrid to shower cash on Catalonia in bid to ensure the region remains in Spain

Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy pledged on Tuesday to invest €4.2 billion ($4.6 billion) in Catalonia by 2020 as a battle for hearts and minds rages between Madrid and regional authorities that want independence.

Published: 28 March 2017 17:15 CEST
Madrid to shower cash on Catalonia in bid to ensure the region remains in Spain
Demonstrators sporting hats and headdresses with the colours of the 'Estelada' (Catalan pro-independence flag) at a rally in Barcelona, September 2016. Photo: AFP

At loggerheads with the separatist government in the northeastern region, which plans to hold a Scotland-style independence referendum against Madrid's will, Rajoy has launched a so-called “operation dialogue” in a bid to ease tensions and win over public opinion.

Criticised for inaction during his first term in office as independence fervour mounted in Catalonia, Rajoy promised to strive for a rapprochement when he took power again in November to solve what he has dubbed Spain's most serious problem.

Speaking in the seaside city of Barcelona, Rajoy promised “€4.2 billion in investment in infrastructure, transport and housing between this year and 2020, which represents more than a billion a year.”

Lack of investment in the wealthy but indebted region has long been a source of contention, pushing some weary Catalans to come out in support of independence, particularly as they see their tax money sent to Madrid and used to prop up other poorer regions.

The belated arrival of the high-speed train to Barcelona in 2008, 16 years after the first such link to Seville in the south, a lack of free highways, and delays in commuter trains are just some of the issues that have contributed to this weariness.

But polls show that many recently converted independence supporters would happily settle for more autonomy and better funding.

Hoping to lure them back, Rajoy pledged to pour money into the commuter train network, airports, roads and ports.

He also promised to finish by 2020 the Catalan section of a Mediterranean freight railway link due to go through coastal regions all the way down to Algeciras on Spain's southern tip.

In addition, Rajoy said he would address the long-time complaint about regional funding and taxes.

“This matters to me. I want Catalonia to be prosperous in a thriving Spain,” he said, asking companies for “help in winning the battle for moderation”.

READ ALSO: 'I don't want independence, I'm Spanish'

Received with scepticism

But the regional government headed by Carles Puigdemont has reacted with a strong dose of scepticism to these overtures.

“Promises of investment in Catalonia made by the Spanish government have lost all credibility in the eyes of Catalan society,” Puigdemont said in an article penned with his deputy Oriol Junqueras and published on Tuesday in the regional daily El Periodico.

They said the central government's previous investment pledges had only been partially fulfilled.

“The state's investment in Catalonia represents 8.2 percent of total investment in regions,” they said, arguing this was “way below” what it should be getting given the wealth it generates and how populous it is.

Catalonia is the region that contributes most to Spain's overall economy, accounting for just under a fifth of the total.

As if emphasising this, Puigdemont was in the United States to establish contacts with think tanks and media outlets and defend his plans to call a referendum in September, just as Rajoy made his announcement.

Madrid has warned repeatedly that such a vote would be illegal and against the constitution — a stance supported by the judiciary.

But the Catalan government has pressed ahead regardless.

Dominated by a coalition of separatist parties, the regional parliament last week approved a 2017 budget that pointedly includes funding for the referendum.

In doing so Catalonia's leaders risk legal repercussions, as illustrated by the two-year ban on public office imposed on former Catalan president Artur Mas this month for organising an illegal independence referendum in 2014, even though the vote was non-binding.

READ ALSO: Madrid is determined to stop Catalonia's independence referendum. How far will it go?

 

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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