The infamous State budget

The latest budget presented by Mariano Rajoy's government has followed the standard pattern of contempt for and discrimination against Catalonia, with investment figures that far from reflect the weight of Catalan GDP and do not come close to approaching those of the final year of Zapatero's government, in themselves insufficient and unjust at the time. The conclusion is that Spain has confirmed Catalonia's absolute and total relegation, and its increasingly precarious position in State policies on economic development and maintenance of the welfare state. Catalonia is treated like a colony via the systematic plundering of taxes paid by citizens without a return that might be considered not even fair, but decent. Indecent is the term that defines Madrid's treatment of Catalonia.

In view of the figures presented yesterday, Catalans must be aware that this discrimination affects all citizens living in the country, whether they see themselves as Spanish or not. This is an important consideration with a view to 27-S, because Spaniards living in Catalonia should be aware that one thing is national feeling, which they do not need to renounce, and the other is the answer they must give to a State which is harming them as well. This situation of disinvestment has continued for years, and it is indisputable that belonging to Spain is highly detrimental to a country that, if it could count on its own resources and programme investment according to its own needs and not punitive arbitrariness, would have a far more hopeful future than the misery and abuse being dispensed by Spain.