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INDEPENDENCE

What next: Is a new Catalan government finally in sight?

Catalonia's majority separatist parliament is preparing to appoint a new regional president hand-picked by deposed leader Carles Puigdemont, who from exile told Quim Torra to continue his showdown with Madrid to achieve independence.

Published: 11 May 2018 19:23 CEST
What next: Is a new Catalan government finally in sight?
ormer Catalan president Carles Puigdemont (2nd L) delivers a message via a video call from Germany during a Junts per Catalonia (Together for Catalonia) party meeting at the Catalan parliament in Barc

Following are the next steps.

Appointment vote

Catalonia's parliament has announced that a first debate on whether to appoint Torra will take place on Saturday, after which lawmakers will vote for or against his candidacy.

Torra needs an absolute majority to get through, and if he doesn't, he will get another opportunity in a second round where he will only need a simple majority, likely to take place on Monday.

There are currently 70 lawmakers in the regional parliament who are pro-independence and 65 against.

But four of the 70 are from the radical anti-capitalist, separatist CUP party which has said it will only vote for Puigdemont — and no one else.   

If they decide to abstain, Torra will scrape through in the second round with a simple majority, but if they vote against, he won't succeed.

PROFILE: Quim Torra, the Catalan separatist anointed by Puigdemont


Madrid lifts direct rule

If Torra is appointed president and forms a regional government, Madrid will lift the direct rule it imposed on October 27th when the majority separatist parliament declared independence. It accordance with article 155 of the Constitution, it was designed to rein in rebel regions.

On Friday, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy implied that article 155 could be re-used.

“It's a procedure that will be there in the future if necessary,” he warned.

Clash with Madrid 

Puigdemont has stressed that his candidate must “respect the mandate of October 1st,” when some 2.2 million Catalans (out of 5.5 million voters) cast their ballot in a referendum on independence despite a court ban — a vote marred by police violence.

Around 90 percent of those who voted chose to split from Spain, according to Catalan separatist authorities.

Puigdemont said Torra would have to “bring back the policies, people and investments that were wrongly suspended or stopped” when Spain's government took control of the semi-autonomous region.

Madrid had sacked around a dozen civil servants and also closed the network of “embassies” that Catalonia had opened to promote independence.

Limited room for manoeuvre

When announcing his successor on Thursday evening, Puigdemont said he would be tasked with “internal governance.”

Puigdemont, meanwhile, wants to create “a Republican council that will be able to express itself freely” from abroad, composed of himself and other allies who are also in self-exile.

The former Catalan leader insists the situation is “temporary,” implying that Torra may one day make way for him.   

“We will see whether Quim Torra, once he is in place, will see himself as a provisional president or whether he will develop a taste for the post,” says Oriol Bartomeus, a politics professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona.

Bartomeus points out that Puigdemont himself was elected Catalan president in January 2016 “to keep (his predecessor) Artur Mas's seat warm.”   

The CUP had refused to re-appoint Mas as Catalan president, leading to Puigdemont's designation, but Mas had always thought — wrongly as it turns out — he would come back.

Legal woes

Puigdemont is currently in Berlin where he is waiting for a German court to rule on an extradition demand from Spain, which has charged him with “rebellion,” a crime that carries up to 30 years in jail.

The German court has rejected extraditing him on that charge, but is still deliberating whether to send him back on the lesser charge of misuse of public funds.

Madrid, meanwhile, is contemplating appealing to European courts if it doesn't get its way.

If he avoids extradition, Puigdemont will have to choose between remaining in self-exile or returning to Spain where he would be jailed.

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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