The 1978 Constitution
In Catalonia, as in the rest of Spain, it was the 1978 constitution that set the rules for the political field. Since then, Spain has become a constitutional monarchy with Felipe VI as head of state, succeeding his father Juan Carlos I, after his abdication in 2014. The same constitution transferred a significant amount of decision-making power to the regions, and on January 17, 1980, Catalonia became one of Spain's 17 autonomous communities. On the executive side, the local government is represented by the Generalitat, headed by a president, and on the legislative side, the parliament (135 deputies elected for 4 years) is the master of the matter.
Block against block
In January 2020, Quim Torra, president of the Generalitat, announced his intention to dissolve the Catalan parliament, a decision presented as a consequence of the split between the pro-independence parties (ERC and Junts). This will lead to the calling of early regional elections on February 14, 2021. Marked by a high abstention rate, these elections gave victory to the pro-independence majority, which, for the first time, now has a majority not only in terms of deputies, but also in terms of votes cast (50.8%). On paper, it is a pro-independence coalition that should be in power, with the 33 seats of the ERC (pro-independence Catalan left), the 32 of Junts (centre-right) and the 9 of the Cup (extreme left), thus exceeding the 68 seats required to obtain a majority. A left-wing coalition would theoretically be possible, given the good results obtained by Salvador Illa (PSC -33 deputies, on a par with the ERC), if their deputies joined those of the ERC and those of the "comunes" (8), the local variation of Podemos. Since the abstention of the ERC deputies in the vote for Pedro Sanchez's nomination in January 2020 allowed him to come to power, and since this party also voted for its last budgets. However, this hypothesis was swept aside by the prior agreement signed by the pro-independence parties excluding any government agreement with the socialist party. This election was also marked by other results that shed light on the evolution of the Catalan and Spanish political landscape. First, the debacle experienced by Ciudadanos, which obtained only 6 deputies compared to the 30 obtained in the previous legislature of the Catalan parliament in 2017 and continues to pay dearly for its desire to overtake the PP instead of playing the role of a centrist cog. But this vote was also marked by the spectacular entry of Vox, far right, which obtained 11 deputies. This is a first in Catalonia, where the popular vote had until now remained on the left. In the wake of the results, the ERC immediately called for a legal referendum on self-determination, under the supervision of international observers. This was rejected by the PSOE.
The weight of the industry
Traditionally based on industry since the 19th century, Catalonia now lives from its tertiary sector, which accounts for 60%. Industry is still an important part of the economy, but it is now based on construction, services and tourism. For a long time, Catalonia was neck and neck with Madrid for the title of richest region in Spain, but in recent years it has been overtaken by Madrid. Thus, in 2019, the Madrid community generated a higher GDP than Catalonia for the fourth consecutive year. According to figures published by the INE (National Institute of Statistics) in March 2021, the Madrid community generated in 2020 a GDP amounting to 216.527 million euros against 212.931 million euros generated in Catalonia. The Madrid community also maintains its leadership in terms of GDP per capita: €32,048, compared to €27,812 in Catalonia. This figure is even more eloquent if we compare it to its performance forty years ago. In 1980, it already contributed 19.1% of Spanish GDP, almost the same as in 2020 (20%), while the Madrid community went from 15.7% to 19.9%. Most economists explain this trend by three main reasons. First, the greater weight of industry in the Catalan economy (17.4 per cent compared with only 6.4 per cent in the Madrid community - less than half) has meant that it has been hit hard by the economic difficulties experienced by all European industry. Moreover, the growth in services resulting from the "tertiarization" of Spanish activity would have benefited Madrid in particular, benefiting from a "capital effect" (+4.1 per cent of GDP from market services in Madrid, compared with 2.4 per cent in Catalonia). The negative impact on the economy of political tensions is much more difficult to measure, although it is often mentioned. 4,000 headquarters have been transferred out of Catalonia since the October 2017 referendum without any systematic study of the impact of these transfers.
Tourism, one of the pillars of the Catalan economy
In 2019, Catalonia welcomed 19.2 million visitors, an increase of 0.6% over the previous year, and they spent more than 21,200 million euros there (+800 million over the previous year). The tourism boom recorded since 2013 has thus continued in the following years. Contributing very significantly to its GDP. It is estimated that in 2019, this sector contributed 12% to Catalan GDP, making it one of the "pillars" of the Catalan economy. It must be said that like the rest of Spain, Catalonia has benefited in recent years from the collapse of some Mediterranean tourist destinations such as Egypt and Tunisia and the exit from the crisis has led to maintain essentially a tourism model based on a strong urbanization of the coast. The pandemic, however, has put a major brake on tourism. In 2020, only 18.9 million foreign tourists visited... the whole of Spain! A figure lower than that of Catalonia alone the previous year! The last time Spain recorded so few visitors was in 1969. An improvement was felt in 2021 with 31 million visitors to Spain.
