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Originally Posted by Habsfan09
There are similar groups in Belgium, Italy and Germany who would like to have their own states because they are the richest regions within the country and they dont want to pay for the rest. It has nothing to do with having their own culture its just greed. Last poll showed that around 30% of the Bavarians would be for an independent state. No sane government could support catalonian independence.
It's more than just the economy when it comes to Catalonia. The Spanish government has a pretty long history of being huge dicks to regions like Catalonia and Basque Country. For example, Francisco Franco banned the use of regional languages like Basque and Catalan. Members of regional political parties were jailed and persecuted. For Catalonia, which has often been run by a leftist political ideology, these right-wing movements to suppress culture and homogenize the country under Spanish rule was a violation of human rights.
People haven't forgotten about how much Spain ****ed with Catalonia throughout history. They are also acutely aware of how vital Catalonia is to the economy of Spain and that they do have some soft power as they represent 20% of Spain's total GDP. Pulling 20% of a country's value, especially one with a stagnating economy, could be destructive for the country.
I doubt this boils over to a full-scale war of some kind. Spain has been through this with Basque Country and they were able negotiate the ceasefire and disarmament of ETA in 2011. Catalonia might be harder to contain and there might be some guerrilla activity by separatist group along the lines of ETA but it will settle.