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Uta Staiger chairs Chatham House event 'Spain and Catalonia: Reflections on the Crisis'

11 December 2017

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On 12 December, the European Institute's Executive Director, Dr Uta Staiger, will chair a panel discussion with experts who will unpack the history of Spanish-Catalan relations and reflect on the current crisis in Catalonia.

The referendum organized by the Catalan regional government on 1 October - after it had been suspended by Spain's constitutional court - has brought the secessionist cause sharply into the international spotlight. A large majority of those who voted chose to secede from Spain, though less than half of Catalonia's electorate of 5.5 million made it to the ballot box. The Catalan parliament subsequently made a unilateral declaration of independence, supported by 70 out of 135 members, which prompted the Madrid government - with the backing of 80 per cent of the Spanish Senate - to invoke article 155 of the constitution, leading to the removal of the Catalan executive and the calling of regional elections for 21 December 2017.

In the aftermath, Spanish courts detained eight members of the Catalan government on remand awaiting trial and ordered the arrest of the regional president Carles Puigdemont. How did this extraordinary chain of events come about?

The panel, held at Chatham House on 12 December 2017, will attempt to unpack the history to this crisis, while reflecting on its current incarnation. Does the issue of Catalan independence stem back to the Spanish Constitution of 1978, which awarded the region unprecedented autonomy, or does it have more recent origins? Will the upcoming Catalan regional election lead to further conflict, or is a peaceful, negotiated outcome still possible? And what are the implications of this crisis for Spain, the European Union as well as other secessionist movements around the world?

Chair: 

Dr Uta Staiger, Executive Director, UCL European Institute; Pro-Vice-Provost for Europe, UCL

Participants:

Dr Ignasi Guardans, EU Policy and Law Advisor, K&L Gates; Member of the Spanish Parliament (1996-2004); Member of the European Parliament for Barcelona (2004-09)

Dr Sandra León, Senior Lecturer, Department of Politics, University of York

Dr Ignacio Molina, Senior Analyst, Elcano Royal Institute; Lecturer, Department of Politics and International Relations, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

Professor Sergi Pardos-Prado​​​​​, Associate Professor and Official Fellow, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford

To read more on the event, and to register, see the Chatham House page.