Catalunya

Given some of the extreme positions that have been expressed, I have hesitated adding my own.

However, I am Catalan and believe that I have a right to express a view.

I have now been living outside of Catalunya for the past 9 years, and currently am living and working in London. I remain in contact with my family and friends in Catalunya, and especially in Barcelona. My own observation is that the only reason for the current 'confrontation' is money, brought on by the crisis. Most people people and families, including mine, are suffering. Sadly, I have now come to realise after my experiences with living outside of Catalunya, that there is little sense of true community there. The Catalan flag and language allows some sense of binding for the people, but it is an illusion. To add to the mixture, politicians have always stressed the differences, and exaggerate them for their own purposes. And it pains me to write this, but part of the problem is that people who do not feel part of a community seek out differences, and will attach importance to symbols that are in reality not important. In Catalunya this has always been the case - you are Catalan or an outsider.

The issue in Catalunya would not be what it is today without the crisis, but I have not heard from anyone in my family, from my friends nor from most of the comments posted here of WHY Catalunya has such a high debt. All that I read from the pro-independence comments are numbers that have no source : please, please where is the actual source for the transfers??

I have looked at numbers/statistics on the web site of the Banco de Espana, and it is irrefutable that the debt in Catalunya was at a manageable level. But the debt held by the Generalitat began to climb and went out of control ONLY when the tripartite came into power in 2006. This should have been seen before and stopped. Now the credibility of Catalunya for financial responsibility is clearly finished. And this is why the capital markets...