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INDEPENDENCE

Rajoy urges Catalonia to form ‘viable’ government

Spain's prime minister on Monday urged Catalonia to form a "viable" government after rejecting the region's new administration which includes jailed and exiled former ministers who backed its independence push.

Rajoy urges Catalonia to form 'viable' government
Newly appointed Catalan president Quim Torra (2ndR) leaves after a visit to jailed Catalan separatist politicians at the Estremera jail near Madrid. Photo: AFP

“Catalonia needs a viable government not an unviable government,” Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy told a business forum in the northwestern city of Vigo.   

“Laws are the rules of the game,” he added in his first public comments since Catalonia's new president Quim Torra on Saturday named 13 “advisors” to his government.

Rajoy was speaking as Torra was visiting former Catalan ministers at the Estremera jail near Madrid, including Jordi Turull and Josep Rull who he had put on his team.

READ ALSO: New Catalonia president includes jailed, exiled leaders in govt


Photo: AFP

“In no European Union nation would these prisoners be in preventative detention for the crimes they are accused of,” Torra told reporters as he left the jail.

Torra was chosen by ousted president Carles Puigdemont who is in Germany facing extradition to Spain over his role in Catalonia's separatist push.   

In addition to appointing Turull and Rull, Torra also nominated Toni Comin and Lluis Puig who are in exile in Belgium.   

The Spanish government criticised Torra's choices as a “new provocation” given that “some of them are on the run from justice or in detention”.   

If Madrid does not ratify Torra's  administration, the new regional Catalan government cannot assume office and thereby end the central government's direct rule of the region.

Rajoy invoked the never before used article 155 of the constitution in October to sack Catalonia's government and impose direct rule after the Catalan parliament declared independence.

A powerful grassroots separatist group, the Catalan National Assembly, has called for protests later Monday in cities across Catalonia against the continued application of article 155.

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?

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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