Roundup of articles about Spain's blame of Catalonia for debt crisis

Spain and Catalonia have been appearing in the International news a lot lately. Here's a roundup, collected by the folks at Fundació CatDem.

New York Times

Article in the New York Times by Suzanne Daley, December 12, 2011, "As Spain Acts to Cut Deficit, Regional Debts Add to Woe"

- Reply from macroeconomist Edward Hugh: "The Rain in Spain Falls Mainly on the Journalists, It Seems" published in Economonitor.com

- Reply from the Minister of Economy and Knowledge of Catalonia, Andreu Mas-Colell, published in the New York Times on January 10: "Spain's Debt, The View From Barcelona"

- Reply from the Col·lectiu Emma [Emma Group]: "A Public Reply to the New York Times (IV)"

Financial Times

Editorial in the Financial Times January 6, 2012, “Madrid’s hard road to fiscal credibility”

Article de Victor Mallet al Financial Times 10-1-12 “Rajoy warns of more austerity for Spain.”

Article de Victor Mallet al Financial Times 5-1-12 : "Catalonia rejects Madrid Budget Controls"

Article de Victor Mallet al Financial Times 4-1-12: "Spain sees €50bn of new bank provisions"

Article de Victor Mallet al Financial Times 4-1-12: "Madrid targets regions in austerity drive"

- Reply from Col·lectiu Emma [Emma Group]: "A Public Reply to the Financial Times (VII)"

Interview with Luis de Guindos in the Financial Times by Victor Mallet January 4, 2012: "FT interview transcript: Luis de Guindos"

San Francisco Chronicle

Article by Angeline Benoit published in the San Francisco Chronicle 11-1-12 : "Spain May Need Back-Door Bailout for Region Rescue: Euro Credit"

In addition, CatDem also pointed out their own Editorial, from January 11, 2012, with the title, “Catalonia Abroad”, in which the foundation highlights the mentioned articles and talks about the visit of Presdient Artur Mas to London, last January 9. The current flurry of press makes it very clear how important it is for Catalonia to have decent tools with which to explain its situation to other countries. Just as President Mas said in the English capital, “the news that makes it abroad has little to do with reality”.

Google Maps invents own Spanish names of Catalan streets, rendering the program useless (and incredibly offensive)

This morning on Twitter, I saw that Google had decided to replace Catalan placenames with crazy, sometimes random, translations into Spanish. The hashtag #googlecat has quickly become a TT (trending topic) on Twitter as people around Catalonia are outraged that Google has decided to call Catalan places however they like.

Pretty incredible. You, dear non-Catalan reader, might think it's much ado about nothing, really, how much difference is there between "Plaça Catalunya" and "Plaza de Cataluña"? Who cares? But there are very large issues here, which I hope to address one by one.

First, the names of streets, squares, and roads are all in Catalan in Catalonia. If you're looking for a street, the only street sign you will find will be in Catalan. Google Maps won't do a fat lot of good to you if it's giving you a translation into Spanish. For example, one of the streets near my apartment is “Carrer de Sant Domènec" (or Saint Dominic street) but Google has it labeled as "Calle de San Domingo".



(Then, there's the added weirdness that you can't actually say "San Domingo", it would be "Santo Domingo".) There are many, many other bizarre translations. Things like "Verga María" [Cock Mary] (and I don't mean roosters) for "Verge Maria" [Virgin Mary]. Or changing the name of the town, “Sant Boi de Llobregat” into "San Baudillo de Llobregat".

Think it won't matter, that Catalan and Spanish are "close enough"? Try "Calle del Oxidado" instead of "Carrer Rovellat". Or "Rambla de la Colina" instead of "Rambla del Turó". Let's just say I wouldn't rely on Google Maps to get around Catalonia any more.



Vilaweb was finally able to get a first explanation from Google Spain about the problem. “The problem has to do with a database that was supplied by a third party and the technicians are working on updating it."

Ultimately, to Catalans who are continually feeling mistreated by the Spanish government, who will not stand up for the Catalan language in Spain, the European parliament or anywhere else, it feels like a crass political move by Google. Perhaps it's just a technical error, but I just don't have that faith anymore.

Interesting that names in English have not been translated into Spanish, as in Plaça John Lennon, which turned into "Plaza John Lennon" but not "Plaza Juan Lennon".

Check into Twitter and follow #googlecat to see egregious examples and anger. Follow Vilaweb for the latest news.

Catalan Government to bring Spain to court

The “Generalitat” or Catalan Government is insisting that Spain pay the 759 million euros ($1 BILLION US) in promised infrastructure budgets now refused by the Zapatero government

The spokesperson for the Catalan government, Francesc Homs, announced that the Generalitat will take the Spanish government to court for not paying the 759 million euros in infrastructure that it owes Catalonia, that is part of the Third disposition of Catalonia's Statute of Autonomy and was included in this year's budget, prepared by José Luís Zapatero's government. It is an extraordinarily grave issue, one of the gravest of the democratic era concerning the institutional relationship with the State. "This is an unprecedented situation," declared Homs.

Today, Homs, in a morning interview on Catalunya Ràdio, explained some of the "grave consequences" that not paying the 759 million euros would engender. Homs has had to ask for “understanding and confidence” to the administration's suppliers and workers, due to a possible delay in paying bills and salaries. “It's not going to be clean and up-to-date like in years past," Homs said.

“This is a clear attack against the self-government of Catalonia, because they know how much it will hurt us. They're not paying, not because they can't, but because they don't want to," complained Homs. According to the spokesperson, there is an air of "vendetta" towards Catalonia. And he wondered, “Why are they doing this? Haven't we kept our commitments more than anyone?"

Salgado says Spanish government has no obligation to pay the 759 million euros

The Spanish Vice-president for Finance, Elena Salgado, says that the state budget includes the payment of 759 million euros in keeping with the third disposition of the Statute of Autonomy, but that it is not required to pay it. Thus, she says the Generalitat has no good reason for bringing the state to court. Originally published in Vilaweb, Tuesday, December 13, 2011, Translated and republished with permission.