Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

INDEPENDENCE

Former Catalan leader ordered to pay €4.9 million over vote

Spain's audit office on Monday ordered former Catalan president Artur Mas and nine others to repay €4.9 million ($5.5 million) of public money spent on staging a 2014 independence referendum.

Published: 12 November 2018 18:18 CET

Former Catalan leader ordered to pay €4.9 million over vote

Archive image of Artur Mas. Photo: AFP

Mas was banned from holding public office for two years in March 2017 for pushing ahead with the symbolic vote that was declared illegal by the courts.

His successor Carles Puigdemont staged another independence vote last year in the northeastern region.

The audit office — which oversees public spending — said Mas and nine members of his administration were responsible for the spending on the November 2014 referendum which amounted to 4.9 million euros.

The funds were used to create a website for the ballot, buy 7,000 computers used in voting centres set up in schools and other public buildings, print ballots and pay for advertising for the vote, the office said.

While the office ordered the ten to repay the money to state coffers “to the extent of their possibilities”, it cited Mas, who was Catalan leader from 2010 until 2016, as the main responsible party for the payment of the fine.

Around 80 percent of those who cast their ballot in the 2014 vote did so for independence — although just 2.3 million people out of a total of 6.3 million eligible voters took part.

Catalonia's parliament declared independence to no effect on October 27th last year following another banned secession referendum staged by Puigdemont's government. That triggered Spain's worst political crisis since the death of dictator General Francisco Franco in 1975.

The central government sacked the Catalan government, took control of the region and called a snap regional election.

In a separate case, Spain's Supreme Court last month ordered 18 former Catalan leaders to stand trial over last year's declaration of independence.

Prosecutors are seeking jail terms of up to 25 years on charges of rebellion or misuse of public funds over the failed secession bid. The sensitive trial is expected to start in early 2019.

ANALYSIS: Why the future of Spain's PM is being decided in a makeshift office behind bars in Catalonia

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.

Url copied to clipboard!