The referendum granting independence to the former Yugoslav republic of Montenegro is spurring similar hopes in Spain, where Basque and Catalan separatists see it as paving the way for their regions to become sovereign states.
The Montenegro vote "shows that the right to self-determination is real and is applied today in the heart of Europe," the Basque separatist party Batasuna said in a press release.
"I feel a sane envy," said Josep Lluis Carod-Rovira, leader of the Catalan separatist party ERC.
The Spanish government and mainstream parties, however, rushed to reject any comparisons between Montenegro and the Spanish regions, fearing a new upsurge of separatism.
The Montenegro referendum came at a time of a heated debate on the status of the Basque and Catalan regions, with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero planning to launch a peace process with the armed Basque separatist group ETA, while Catalonia has just secured a wider degree of autonomy from Spain.
Separatists and moderate regional nationalists stress small nations' right to self-determination in Europe, while the conservative opposition accuses the Socialist government of endangering the country's unity by being soft on regionalism.
The Montenegro referendum was awaited eagerly by nationalists in the northern Basque region of 2.1 million, where ETA has killed more than 800 people in its four-decade campaign for a sovereign Basque state carved out of northern Spain and southern France.
The group declared a permanent ceasefire in March, and Zapatero now intends to launch a peace process which is expected to include talks between the Basque political parties on the region's future.
The region's governing moderate nationalist party, PNV, and the Batasuna radicals are planning to table a request for a referendum on the right of the Basques to decide their own future, something Spain has categorically rejected so far.
"It may take several decades and successive referendums to win independence," conceded Joseba Alvarez, one of the leaders of Batasuna, which was banned in 2002 as ETA's political wing, but which expects to become relegalized soon.
About half of the Basques support nationalist parties such as Batasuna and the bigger PNV, which has proposed a considerably wider autonomy short of full independence.
Zapatero's government is trying to counter separatism by offering watered-down autonomy plans, such as the new Catalan statute, which has been approved by the Spanish parliament and is to be confirmed in a June 18 regional referendum. The plan fell short of separatist expectations in the wealthy north-eastern region of 6.8 million, where the radical ERC plays a minor, but increasingly visible role.
Regionalism is also on the rise in other regions, such as the southern Andalusia, which does not have its own language like the Basques and Catalans do, but which is nevertheless seeking a recognition of its specific identity.
The centrifugal tensions are causing concern in Madrid, where politicians and commentators stressed the differences between Spain and the former Yugoslavia.
The two were not comparable, "neither politically, nor diplomatically, nor judicially," Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana -- a Spanish Socialist -- said it would be "delirium tremens" to compare Montenegro with EU countries including Spain.
Conservative editorials stressed the differences, saying Montenegro had already existed as an independent state and that it was functioning as a separate entity from Serbia, something that was not the case for Catalonia or the Basque region.
Criticisms of corruption, a poorly managed bureaucracy and uninformed, unprincipled or unaccomplished policy in China are often met with harsh punishments. Many protesters in the “blank paper movement,” for example, have been disappeared by the authorities. Meanwhile, the WHO has asked China to provide data on its COVID-19 situation, with the Chinese government choosing to disseminate propaganda instead. The first amendment of the US Constitution, written in 1791, prohibits the US government from abridging the freedom of speech, press, assembly, petition, or religion. More than 200 years later, China, the world’s second-largest economy, still lacks the freedoms of speech and the press,
As the People’s Republic of China (PRC) constantly strives to rewrite the Taiwan narrative, it is important to regularly update and correct the stereotypes that the PRC tries to foist on Taiwan and the world. A primary stereotype is that Taiwan has always been a part of China and its corollary that Taiwan has been a part of China since time immemorial. Both are false. Taiwan has always been a part of the vast Austronesian empire, which stretched from Madagascar in the west to Easter Island in the east and from Taiwan in the north to New Zealand in the south. That
The latest Cabinet reshuffle retains top economic and finance officials in their posts. Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花), National Development Council Minister Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫), Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman Thomas Huang (黃天牧) and Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) Minister Chu Tzer-ming (朱澤民) are all to remain. President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁), who is to be sworn in as the new premier tomorrow, reportedly wanted them to complete unfinished tasks and maintain coherent policymaking. This indicates that Tsai’s administration wants to formulate consistent and stable policies, reassure the business community and restore
The Chinese government seems to have fallen back in love with economic growth. As the chaotic exit from its “zero COVID” policy has unfolded — leading to tens of thousands of deaths (at least) — the nation’s leaders have been eager to profess their undying devotion to robust economic recovery. However, lip service alone can get China nowhere. Last month’s Central Economic Work Conference — the annual meeting where the top leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) sets the economic policy agenda for the next year — established growth as the government’s top economic priority for this year. In the weeks
RSS