Going to answer to some questions asked, and also reply to some statements given during the posts I've missed yesterday!
Prince Naga
-Catalonia economic miracle was partly due to people and machinery leaving Andalucia, and by being apart of Spain, whilst stating that tourism alone won't save Catalonia if it seceded?
The Catalonia economic miracle largely mirrors the bigger Spanish miracle which happened between 1959 to 1974 and spans through the end of postwar era Spain until the death of Francisco Franco, this miracle is normally regarded to be caused (amongst other things) by the substitution of old government falangist officials to the new "technocrats", who abandoned falangist economic doctrines and moved on to economic liberalism (whilst still embracing the Francoist political system) and implemented modern development plans which reinvigorated the economy of the three main economic centers (Catalonia, Madrid and the Basque Country). In Catalonia, as you mentioned, aside from these ocurrences happening across Spain we also got a steady flow of migrants from the rural poverty post-war stricken regions of Spain (such as Andalucía or Extremadura) who moved to Catalonia in search of employment and opportunities that didn't exist in their home regions. As I mentioned in previous posts this immigration wave is the first one in Catalonia, beggining in the sixties, and created a dramatic change in demographics. From 1900 to 1940 Catalonia's population was of a steady 2 million, most of them ethnic Catalans, and by the 1970's the population already reached 5 millions. This created problems (such as the lack of integration of many first-generation immigrants and their children) but it also created unprecedented growth, recovery and wealth, and these families were able to find the opportunities and new begginings they set off for. These immigrants from the south are regarded by most people (and myself as well) to have greatly contributed to create the economic powerhouse Catalonia is today, and many Catalans if not most have descendants that came from those regions. In your question you state that they brought machinery, which is not true. There wasn't any economic development in these regions and they remain backwards today in comparison to the northern regions, who have been largely handing out subsidies for their development even now. Catalonia, in the other hand, already was largely industralized by then. We were the first region in Spain to embrace the Industrial Revolution and Barcelona has been and is a important hub for commerce in the European continent, being the richest region of Spain as we speak and having a higher GDP than some European nations, Catalonia is right now one of the Four Motors for Europe, along with Lombardy, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Baden-Württemberg). A free, sovereign and independent Catalan Republic can surely survive as a free nation. We do not overdepend of tourism, our economy is well diversified.
-I honestly don't see why Catalonia should secede though, its an autonomous region, and I've read Barcelona collects its own taxes separate from Spain, has its own Parliament, so as an outsider on the outside I don't get it.
Becuase a great segment of Catalan society believes that they would be better off if their homeland was an independent state, for economic, historic and identity reasons. And since the legal framework makes it near impossible to change the constitution and have a legal referendum, and the other side doesn't seem to want to dialogue or present alternatives we are arranging our own vote so people can decide, not a decade or fifty years until the Spaniards change their mind, but now, since the problem is causing tensions and must be resolved. We are a nation and we have the right to decide, it doesn't matter how much people try to deride and degrade us, and it doesn't matter if our backs aren't being whipped, no one can shut our voices, we will use our right of self-determination even though this means breaking the law and disobeying, since we have no other way around. Now, it is true that we have our own autonomy, as every Spanish region, however this autonomy has been constantly reduced over the years (in the fiscal, language and legislative level), and our Statute of Autonomy was butchered by the Constitutional Court in 2010 becuase it said that Catalonia was a nation, even though that Statute was voted overwhelmigly with a 74% of support also with the support of traditional unionist parties. There is a complete lack of respect for Catalan institutions and political will, and this lack of respect was already existing LONG BEFORE nationalists were voted into office and the campaign of civil disobedience started. What is happening now is the final escalation of a long series of events.
About the taxes...we don't collect our own. Only one region does, the Basque Country, and you can guess why they got such a sweet fiscal pact that allows them to collect and administer their own wealth whilst sharing almost nothing with the central government
hint
We, in the other hand, pay 20.8% of the taxes collected in ALL SPAIN (€37.8B), even though we don't recieve half of the investments we ask for in infrastructures. In fact we hardly recieve any investments by the central government and have to do the stuff ourselves or with EU help. Our economic autonomy is totally gone now since the central government took over our finances to stop any money from going to the referendum.
Calradianın Bilgesi
-I remember being told or reading that Spain tries to make federalism as symmetrical(in contrast with asymmetrical autonomy enjoyed by Quebec) as possible because of constitution.
Spain is not officially a federal country, although politically speaking it is VERY decentralized. The Spanish State is integrated by 17 autonomous communities and 2 autonomous cities (the Spanish african enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla), both groups being the highest or first-order administrative division in the country. Autonomous communities are integrated by provinces, of which there are 50 in total, and in turn, provinces are integrated by municipalities. In Catalonia, two additional divisions exist, the comarques (sing. comarca) and the vegueries (sing. vegueria) both of which have administrative powers; comarques being aggregations of municipalities, and the vegueries being aggregations of comarques. Although the country is politically decentralized it is culturally centralized under the identity and culture of Castilla (Castile), which has unified the country during centuries under their model. In some places they suceeded in their effort, in others, they haven't. The constant refusal of aknowledging the cultural diversity Spain has by Castilians has put them at odds with Galicians, Basques and, of course, Catalans.
-How much more power does Catalonia has compared to other regions in Spain?
6.3% of Spain's territory, 16% of the population, 20.1% of the GDP, 25.6% of the exports, 20.8% of the taxes paid, 25.7% of the research papers published, 23.8% of foreign tourists and for the lols 28.9% of olympic medalists in Rio 2016
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Sources:
Some news (some I already mentioned in previous posts)