Catalonia independence: What you need to know

  Spain is on the brink of a political crisis.

Last week, the country's Catalonia region voted to secede. Spanish courts ruled the outcome illegal. On Tuesday, Catalonia's regional president, Carles Puigdemont, stopped short of declaring independence and called for more talks with Spain. How did we get here, and what comes next?

Where is Catalonia, and why do many of the region's residents want independence?

Catalonia is a region in Spain's northeast. Barcelona is its capital.

For “independistas,” the fight for freedom has been a three-century project, one that can be traced back to 1714, when Philip V of Spain captured Barcelona. (Even today, pro-independence Catalonians insult Spanish loyalists by calling them “botiflers,” or allies of Philip V.)

Since then, Catalan nationalists have consistently pursued some degree of autonomy from Spain. By 1932, the region's leaders had declared a Catalan Republic, and the Spanish government agreed on a state of autonomy.

But when Francisco Franco came to power in 1939, those gains were lost. Franco systematically repressed all efforts toward Catalan nationalism. Under his dictatorship, the New York Times writes, “the government tried to stamp out all Catalan institutions and the language, and thousands of people were executed in purges. 

Virtually no Catalan family emerged from that period unscarred.”

After Franco died, the fight for independence started again in earnest. In 2006, Spain granted Catalonia “nation” status and taxation power. But Spain's Constitutional Court struck down that ruling in 2010, arguing that while Catalans were a “nationality,” 

Catalonia was not a “nation.” More than 1 million Catalans protested the finding, to no avail.

Today, Catalonia enjoys more control over its regional finances than most other parts of Spain. But that isn't enough for many residents. As the Times article explains, “Many Catalans have grown to adulthood believing that they were, simply, not Spanish.”

There's another issue, too: Catalonia is the richest region in Spain and the most highly industrialized. It houses many of Spain's metalworking, food-processing, pharmaceutical and chemical industries. 

It also boasts a booming tourism industry, thanks to popular spots such as Barcelona. The region makes up about 16 percent of Spain's population and accounts for 20 percent of the national economy.

Catalans often complain that they contribute more in taxes to the Spanish government than they get back. In 2014, Catalonia paid about $11.8 billion more to Spain's tax authorities than it received. But as the BBC explains, 

“The complexity of budget transfers makes it hard to judge exactly how much more Catalans contribute in taxes than they get back from investment in services such as schools and hospitals.”

[In Catalonia’s independence vote, students want their say]

There was an independence vote on Oct. 1, right? What happened?

Catalans did go to the polls to vote on independence just a couple of weeks ago. It was a messy affair.

For weeks, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy condemned the vote as illegal. “I say this both calmly and firmly: There will be no referendum, it won't happen,” he said. 

He and others argued that the vote would undermine the rule of law and set a dangerous precedent. In the lead-up to the vote, Rajoy sent in thousands of troops to seize ballot forms and arrest pro-independence officials. Websites informing Catalans about the election were shuttered.

Catalonia's own police force was ordered to follow the lead of Spain's paramilitary Civil Guard and to help stop the vote. It was told to clear out all polling stations by 6 a.m. on Oct. 1 and to confiscate ballot boxes.

As you might expect, election day was marred by skirmishes, with police using rubber bullets and truncheons to control the crowds and keep people out of the streets. Hundreds were injured in what the Times described as “one of the gravest tests of Spain's democracy since the end of the Franco dictatorship.”

Even so, the Catalan government said some 2.3 million people voted, out of about 6 million eligible voters. Of those who turned out, 90 percent voted for independence.

Separatists claimed victory. But Spanish loyalists pointed out that at least 6 in 10 voters stayed home. A protest in favor of Spanish unity last week brought hundreds of thousands of people onto Barcelona's streets. Many of those in attendance described themselves as the “silent majority.”

[‘We don’t know how good we have it here’: Many Catalans don’t want a break with Spain]

Will Catalonia move forward?

On Tuesday, Catalan leader Puigdemont declared his region's right to independence from the rest of the country. In a speech to the regional Parliament, Puigdemont offered, as analysts had predicted, a “toned-down declaration that would leave the door open for negotiations with the national government in Madrid.”

It was a big move. But what comes next is much more complicated. Spain's prime minister has said he won't talk to Catalonia unless the region drops its demand for secession. The hard-liners in Puigdemont's unwieldy coalition want the regional leader to follow through as quickly as possible. 

Other lawmakers worry about further escalating tensions with Spain. They're worried, too, about the region's economy. After the secession vote, several big companies announced that they would be moving their headquarters because of uncertainty.

If Catalonia does move to secede immediately, the Spanish parliament could set in motion a stream of emergency measures designed to quell dissent. The Spanish constitution allows the country's leader to suspend Catalonia's regional parliament and to take full administrative control, including over its police force and public broadcaster. The country would almost certainly open criminal proceedings against Catalan leaders.

Where does Europe stand?

European officials have expressed firm, though muted, support for Spain's central government. A European Union official said Friday that people should respect the constitution and rule of law in their countries. But E.U. officials also say they won't mediate the clash between Spain and Catalonia, calling it an internal matter. It has galvanized secession-leaning politicians across Europe, too.

Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister of Scotland, which itself has questioned leaving the United Kingdom, offered quiet support for the independence effort. And politicians in Belgium's Flanders region, who have called for secession, sympathize with Catalans and wonder if their region might be next. 

“There is already a dynamic (toward independence around Europe). You only have to look at Scotland. It’s an evolution that no European government can avoid,” Jan Peumans, speaker of Belgium’s Flanders regional parliament, told the Associated Press.

In Italy, the far-right Northern League, which wants more autonomy for Italy's north, spoke out against the arrest of Catalan leaders.