And...It's Spain.. will it kick off ?
Discussion
irocfan said:
don't forget the case of the German comedian being prosecuted for taking the piss out of the turkish windbag hurdygurdygan so it's not only the Spanish at it
That got thrown out IIRC, though I agree- that happened within a year of a book being published in the UK containing allegations that the sitting PM put his cock in a pig!psi310398 said:
But Spain has some pretensions towards being a modern European democracy, or at least claims to...
Yes, and not to forget Spain's selective approach to how things are always different when applied to them. For example:Spain: Gibraltar is ours. It must be. It's part of our Country
Rest of world: OK, give Melilla and Ceuta back to Morocco then
Spain: That's completely different
irocfan said:
Good news.On an individual level, in my opinion, the guy has been a bit daft. He poked the hornets nest then hoped that seccisonist-friendly types would bankroll his existence in another state (Belgium) whilst things died down, or the movement in Catalonia gathered sufficient momentum that he felt it reasonable for his return. Instead he’s separated from his wife (who I assume has to continue to work for family income; journalism, tv shows etc) and his young kids. He can’t draw down any stipend from any government source as he’s not in any position of power, in addition to public funds being scrutinised for any past misdemeanours.
The Spanish courts decision to initially reverse the original EWA was only to reconstitute it to cover all bases for the judiciaries in all the various EU states to legitimately hold him if it was something that they also would charge an individual for if they did it in that state. However, I imagine the court might have sat on its hands for a significant amount of time if he’d just shut his mouth and kept his head down in Mechelen of wherever. Instead, what does the clown do? He gets motoring all round Europe, talking to diminishing audiences at some odd conference or two and tries to keep himself in the limelight. Of course the courts are going to reactivate - with haste - another EWA, and with the various intelligence apparatuses working across Europe, the dopey sod would have been easy enough to keep track of.
The two (ladies) who’ve subsequently flitted to Switzerland, are the intelligent ones. It’s a touch harder to drag someone’s arse out of Switzerland and think the EWA doesn’t cover it. But then again one of them had a legal background.
The only one I could begin to respect was Junqueros. He turned up to court in Madrid to face the music and has gone on remand with his dignity/integrity intact. You can’t be the proud charger of independence, a Man for the Ages, if you scarper at even the hint that the police might be on their way. Puigdemont chickened out when things got serious and only highlighted that for all his talk and rhetoric, he ain’t no leader of men (or women. Or Catalans for that matter). Even though Junqueros couldn’t develop a coherent financial policy post supposed independence to save his life, at least he didn’t run away.
What a disaster. But it’s what happens when relatively unserious people with just journalistic or academic backgrounds, with no experience of you know, running things, living with the responsibility of making economic decisions that could actually impact and hurt people, when people like that get voted in as MPs on some one-policy ticket based on passionate views they’ve held since students. They lead people down garden paths, because their policies aren’t grounded in realpolitik. It’s pure bulls
t and some vague notion of belonging to some romantic ideal of a state that never really was. I’ve seen in Quebec too. It’s utter nonsense. Student clowns entering middle age pushing for some nonsense independence. A beatified state that actually can’t be achieved. Just get into positions of power and do things that actually improve constituents daily lives, not chasing some stupid romantic political vision. Chancers like Puigdemont deserve everything he gets.
TTmonkey said:
Trust ze Germans to follow the rules unlike many European countries.
Only when it suits them.They haven't met the EU or NATO financial rules for years, for example.
They don't like upstart pipsqueaks challenging their type of democracy, that's why they arrested him.
That said, he needs to be brought to account and not be able to run away. Who does he think he is! Tony Blair?
Wonder how the new socialist government deals with the Catalan issue?
“Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has been forced out of office by a no-confidence vote in parliament.
Socialist leader Pedro Sánchez, who filed the motion after Mr Rajoy's party was implicated in a corruption scandal, will become prime minister.
"We're going to sign a new page in the history of democracy in our country," Mr Sanchez said ahead of Friday's vote.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-44327573
“Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has been forced out of office by a no-confidence vote in parliament.
Socialist leader Pedro Sánchez, who filed the motion after Mr Rajoy's party was implicated in a corruption scandal, will become prime minister.
"We're going to sign a new page in the history of democracy in our country," Mr Sanchez said ahead of Friday's vote.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-44327573
davepoth said:
del mar said:
Pedro Sanchez has lost two elections yet he is now in charge of the country, how does that work ?
Twice people voted against him.
It seems that the only thing the people who put him there had in common was a distaste for Rajoy. I'd expect fresh elections pretty quickly.Twice people voted against him.
Kermit power said:
Suggestion on Radio 4 earlier was that Sanchez is likely to try and hang on until the scheduled elections in 2020, as otherwise there's a strong chance of Podemos (the new centre right party) picking up a lot of the vote if they go to the polls now.
I'm sure he wants to - PSOE will get a whipping in the polls, and this is likely his only chance at the big job.That said, his coalition is cobbled together from
PSOE (84)
Podemos - lefist (67)
ERC - Catalan Nationalist Leftist (9)
PNV - Basque Nationalist (5)
PDeCAT - Catalan Nationalist Liberalist (8)
Compromis - Valencian Nationalist (4)
EH Bildu - Basque Nationalist (2)
NCa - Canarian Nationalist (1)
To get him 180 seats, a majority of 10 - so five seats crossing the floor takes him out of power. That gives an extraordinary, unprecedented, and possibly critical amount of power to the nationalist parties.
A 2/3rds majority is required to amend the constitution (to (for example) allow referenda) but aside from that I can imagine that the nationalist bloc is going to want to wring a lot out of Sanchez in return for their votes.
Will it all kick off again?
"Hundreds of people have gathered across cities and towns in Catalonia to mark the one-year anniversary of the contested referendum on independence."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-45710447
"Hundreds of people have gathered across cities and towns in Catalonia to mark the one-year anniversary of the contested referendum on independence."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-45710447
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