Economic development and political institutions Dr. Joaquín M. Molins Emeritus professor Political Science Autonomus University of Barcelona Brussels meeting, January 2017

Inclusive Institutions allows Sustained Prosperity Acemeglu and Robinson argument Rule of Law

The long road towards nowhere or the “so-called the Catalan problem” 1980-2003: A regional conservative government: Increasing powers for better public policies? “Catalonia First” or a nationalist strategy to “build a nation” and be ready for secession

The long road towards nowhere or the “so-called the Catalan problem” 2004-2010: Left Coalition government: A New Self-Rule Law (Estatuto de Autonomía 2006): - Citizens’ demands more moderated in their preferences than political elites - Increasing powers without constitutional reform (Colino, Publius vol.39.2) - Sentence of the Constitutional Court (2010) and a “rally” against the “rule of Law”

The long road towards nowhere or the “so-called the Catalan problem” 2011- 2015: Conservative government From the negotiation of a fiscal agreement to the referendum demand From symbolic to legal breakdown: Generalitat doesn’t follow the rules of the new Self-rule Law for change (2/3 of seats in Parliament) The “deligitimation of Institutions”, mainly of the Constitutional Court 2015-present Patriotic government and the forgotten citizens

Catalan Nationalism’s narrative: Taxation-issue: Spain squeezes Catalonia. Borell & Llorach (2015) “Las cuentas y los cuentos de la independencia” Constitutional-issue: Spain discriminates Catalonia. F. De Carreras (2016) “Discurso ingreso Real Academia” Culture-issue: Spain marginalises Catalonia. Catalan language :94,3 speaks;80,4 speaks,60,4 writes (Idescat 2013) Political-issue: Spain bullies Catalonia. Molins & Medina (2015) “El auge de la demanda secesionista en Cataluña y el Pais Vasco”, CIS

CONSTITUTIONAL MISTRUTHS IN A POST-TRUTH CONTEXT* Right to decide vs self-determination Catalan referendum’s demand vs. Two decisions allready taken on self- rule Spanish Constitunional Court position German Constitutional Court position Italian Constitutional Court position Venetian Convention on best practiques on referendums *(J. Suiter, Political Insigh, Dec 2016))

THANK YOU!