BARCELONA: A decisive victory in Thursday’s Catalan elections by either the pro-Spanish or separatist blocs seems unlikely, so eventually some sort of compromise allowing greater Catalonia autonomy may have to be found.
“Philosopher Ortega y Gasset said you can’t resolve the Catalan question; you have to live with it,” said Jorge San Miguel Lobeto, a political scientist and adviser to the unionist Ciudadanos party.
“The best we can expect in the short term is to go back to a pre-crisis situation where separatists still push for independence, promote their language, but they’re not breaking the law and aren’t being disloyal to the Madrid government daily.”
Spain’s ruling People’s Party has denounced Catalan separatists. Campaigning under the slogans of “Spain is the solution,” and “The solution is PP,” Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and his cohorts warn they will again suspend Catalonia’s semi-autonomy should separatist parties achieve a parliamentary majority.
“Rajoy has long faced demands from the Spanish right-wing to take a tough stance on Catalonia, so he did so even though he knows it’s a flawed approach because ultimately some kind of compromise will be needed to solve the problem in the long term,” said Juan Rodriguez Teruel, professor of political sciences at the University of Valencia.
“If separatist parties maintain their current support or even expand it, the first political victim will probably be Rajoy, because critics from within the PP and its opponents like Cuidadanos, which have been very tough on this issue, will blame him.”
With the vote too close to call and having blundered in declaring independence in October – a move that highlighted the separatists’ inability to break unilaterally from Spain – pro-independence parties were equivocal when asked what will happen post-election.
“The results of the new elections are crucial to re-open political negotiations with the Spanish government,” said Jordi Xucla, a spokesman for Junts per Catalunya.
Leftist Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, whose former president Lluis Companys was executed by Spanish fascists in 1940, indicated it would push Madrid to agree to a legally binding referendum should voters return another pro-independence majority.
“Let’s hope the democratic responsibility of the Spanish state will push it to open a real democratic dialogue,” said spokesman Ernest Maragall.
Catalonia: Compromise is still the answer
Catalonia: Compromise is still the answer
Sri Lanka hospital releases 22 rescued Iranian sailors
- Sri Lankan authorities said the survivors from the Dena were being handled according to international humanitarian law
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka discharged from hospital 22 Iranian sailors who were plucked from life rafts after their warship was sunk by a US submarine, officials said Sunday.
The sailors were treated at Karapitiya Hospital in the southern port city of Galle since Wednesday after the IRIS Dena was torpedoed just outside Sri Lanka’s territorial waters.
“Another 10 are still undergoing treatment,” a medical officer at the hospital told AFP.
He said the bodies of 84 Iranians retrieved from the Indian Ocean were also at the hospital.
Those discharged from hospital overnight had been taken to a beach resort in the same district.
Sri Lankan authorities said the survivors from the Dena were being handled according to international humanitarian law, and the government had contacted the International Committee of the Red Cross for assistance.
The island is also providing safe haven for another 219 Iranian sailors from a second ship, the IRIS Bushehr, that was allowed to berth a day after the Dena was sunk.
Sailors from the Bushehr have been moved to a Sri Lanka Navy camp at Welisara, just north of the capital Colombo, and their ship taken over by Sri Lanka’s navy.
Sri Lanka announced it was taking the Bushehr to the north-eastern port of Trincomalee, but an engine failure and other technical and administrative issues had delayed the movement, a navy spokesman said.
Sri Lanka has denied claims that it was under pressure from Washington not to allow the Iranians to return home, and said Colombo will be guided solely by international law and its own domestic legislation.
A US State Department spokesperson said the disposition of the Bushehr crew and Iranian sailors rescued at sea was up to Sri Lanka.
“The United States, of course, respects and recognizes Sri Lanka’s sovereignty in the handling of this situation,” the spokesperson told AFP in Washington.
India, meanwhile, said Saturday that it had allowed a third Iranian warship, the IRIS Lavan, to dock in one of its ports on “humane” grounds after it too reported engine problems.
The three ships were part of a multi-national fleet review held by India before the war in the Middle East started last week.
“I think it was the humane thing to do, and I think we were guided by that principle,” Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said on Saturday.
The Lavan docked in the south-west Indian port of Kochi on Wednesday.
“A lot of the people on board were young cadets. They have disembarked and are in a nearby facility,” Jaishankar said.
