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Puigdemont refuses to rule out fresh elections in Catalonia

Catalonia's deposed leader Carles Puigdemont refused Friday to rule out fresh elections in the Spanish region if the jailed candidate chosen by Catalan separatist parties to form a new government is not allowed to be sworn in.

Published: 9 March 2018 14:14 CET
Puigdemont refuses to rule out fresh elections in Catalonia
Photo: AFP

“It is no tragedy if there are new elections, although it is not the priority and no one desires it,” he said in an interview published in Catalan nationalist newspaper El Punt Avui.

Puigdemont moved to Belgium after the Catalan parliament unilaterally declared independence on October 27th following a banned referendum on secession and faces arrest if he returns to Spain over his role in Catalonia's separatist push.

He formally abandoned his bid to be re-appointed Catalan president last week and proposed Jordi Sanchez as a candidate, with the Catalan parliament set to convene on Monday to appoint a new regional president.

But Sanchez is considered to have little chance of taking up the post since he is remanded in custody pending accusations of sedition over last year's Catalan independence crisis.

READ MORE: Jailed separatist proposed as candidate for Catalan presidency.

“If we have elections”, Puigdemont said, “it will be due to the enormous irresponsibility of the state, because they did not accept the results” of the snap elections held in Catalonia on December 21st which saw separatist parties once again win an absolute majority of seats in the Catalan parliament.

“Since they did not like the outcome, they don't want parliament to pick its president…They are forcing things in such a way that maybe we should repeat elections,” he added.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's conservative government dissolved Catalonia's parliament, called the early election and imposed direct rule over the region after Catalonia's assembly on October 27th unilaterally declared independence.

It has vowed to resist any bid to break the region away from Spain and called on Catalan separatist parties to appoint a candidate for president who does not face prosecution.

Sanchez, the former leader of influential grassroots separatist organisation ANC, has asked Spain's Supreme Court for permission to leave jail to be sworn in as Catalan president on Monday.

Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena, who leads the investigation into Sanchez, on Wednesday gave prosecutors five days to present their arguments regarding his request, meaning a ruling before the Catalan parliament meets on Monday is not certain.

“He could give his ruling before the session, technically it is possible,” a Supreme Court spokesman told AFP.

Sanchez's bid has the support of Catalonia's two main separatist parties, Puigdemont's Together for Catalonia and the leftist ERC, but it also needs the backing of the small, anti-capitalist CUP party which has four seats in the Catalan parliament.

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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