The leader of Catalonia on Wednesday urged the national government in Madrid to grant his region fiscal sovereignty, perhaps his strongest demand yet for more independence a day after hundreds of thousands of Catalans held a surprisingly large separatist rally in central Barcelona. Recalling Spain's return to democracy, after the death of Gen. Francisco Franco in 1975, Artur Mas, the Catalan leader, said, "Spain launched its transition 30 years ago and now it is our turn." He added, "The first step to succeed in that is fiscal sovereignty."
While officials engaged in a battle of numbers over the exact size of the rally on Tuesday, its dimensions seemed to stun even those who had taken part. No one could recall such a large gathering in Catalonia, which has a population of seven and a half million people. Organizers of the rally claimed that two million people had attended, while the local police said the turnout was one and a half million. The central government in Madrid estimated that 600,000 had protested its control over the region.
The separatist pressure from Catalonia presents yet another serious challenge for the government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy amid a banking crisis, deepening recession and record joblessness. His relationship with Spain's often-restive regions has already been strained by the crisis, with Madrid recently forced to offer emergency financing to Catalonia and other struggling regional governments, and demanding greater fiscal discipline in return.
Mr. Rajoy is debating whether to tap into a new bond-buying program agreed to last week by the European Central Bank. Spain has also yet to complete a European rescue package negotiated in June to help keep afloat Bankia and other troubled Spanish lenders. Barcelona has recently been the scene of violent protests against budget cuts and other austerity measures designed to help Spain clean up its public finances.
Tuesday's enormous rally, by contrast, was peaceful. On a Catalan public holiday, young parents pushed strollers covered in the yellow-and-red flag of Catalonia and groups of students walked to beating drums, in a carnival-like atmosphere. Mr. Mas did not attend the rally. But the televised speech he made on Wednesday morning from the regional government's palace was welcomed by Catalan separatists.
It was "his strongest statement to date in favor of separating from Spain," said Salvador García Ruiz, a founder of Collectiu Emma, an association promoting Catalan interests. "It shows that our politicians are being forced to follow the lead of our people, who are a long way ahead of them on the road toward independence," he said.
For now, however, the priority for Mr. Mas is to persuade Mr. Rajoy to allow Catalonia, which accounts for almost a fifth of Spain's economic output, to reduce its contribution to a fiscal system that redistributes part of its tax revenues to poorer regions of Spain. The two politicians are to discuss the issue at a meeting on Sept. 20.
In addition to Catalonia's fiscal demands, some protesters also called on Mr. Rajoy to loosen the 2012 budget deficit target of 1.5 percent of gross domestic product set for Catalonia and other regions. Demonstrators noted that Mr. Rajoy was shown leniency by Brussels this year when Spain renegotiated its own deficit targets. "If Rajoy wants to avoid things getting out of control in Catalonia, he cannot show zero tolerance toward us," said Javier Faura, an accountant who was draped in a Catalan flag on Tuesday. "We will not take up arms again like 300 years ago, but nor will we allow Madrid to continue to ignore our demands."
Catalonia's claims to independence have gone through highs and lows over the centuries. The Sept. 11 national day celebrated on Tuesday in fact commemorates a bitter moment for Catalans, when King Philip V deprived Catalonia of its independent institutions and banned the use of the Catalan language after defeating a Catalan army in 1714.
More recently, the Catalan language was again banned in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War as Franco turned Spain into a dictatorship tightly run from Madrid. Sitting in a wheelchair and surrounded by relatives, Nuria Capdevila, 86, said the discontent expressed by Catalans on Tuesday could not compare to the hunger and civil war of her youth. Still, she added, "if Catalan independence wasn't important to me, I can assure you that I would have stayed at home rather than have asked my family to take me out on the streets this afternoon."
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