On March, 30 the Spanish parliament passed a resolution on changing the status of Catalonia. The draft was passed by 189 votes to 154. Thus, the Statute, significantly amended by the Constitutional Committee and the delegation of Catalan government, garnered 54.8% of the vote.

On April, 4th the Statute draft will be forwarded to the Senate, which is to settle a term of 15 days to introduce amendments. If the draft is upheld by this body, it will be initially returned to the lower house, which is to redirect the draft to the government of Catalonia. The latter body, in its turn, will initiate a referendum on the Statute; the approximate date for its holding is June, 18 2006. Thus, Catalonia has a chance to acquire a status of an extended autonomy within Spain.

The opposition leader Mariano Rajoy has stated that the text of the Statute is unconstitutional. He stressed that one cannot form a country of two nations or allow certain people occupy Catalonia. Thus, the new Catalan Statute recognizes Catalonia as a nation (rather than as a nationality, which was stipulated in the previous Statute). The new Statute obliges Catalan citizens to study the Catalan language. Alterations have touched upon the sphere of finance, the jurisdiction of the Autonomy (extending the latter is one of the major ambitions of the reform), legal system, the rights and obligations etc. Catalonia is enabled to play a significant role in its intercourse with the European Union regarding the matters of its own concern.

The vigorous debate on the expediency of extending Catalonia’s autonomy has been under way since the spring of 2005, when the Catalan government adopted the new Statute. As early as then the leader of the opposing Conservative Popular Party thwarted the project, assessing the extension of the autonomy as a means precipitating the break-up of the state. The Spanish conservatives consider the project to threaten the integrity of the country, for, in practice, the Statute is about granting Catalonia the status of a member of the Spanish Federation, which is yet non-existent. The opponents of the acting Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero accuse him of leading the country to the verge of an abyss. The leader of the Spanish state props his position by declaring that “the jurisdiction of the state is secured by Carta Magna, and no Statute of any autonomy can change its provisions”.

Spain is in fact a state of autonomous regions. Since 19th century Catalonia (like the Basque country) has possessed a well-established ground for self-administration. In contrast to that region, others have not experienced an active drive for receiving the status of an autonomy. During Franco dictatorship the autonomy privileges of Catalonia and the country of Basques were abolished, outlawed were also the languages of the national minorities. After the death of Franco these regions claimed to a special status. That’s why the Spanish Constitution of 1978 included an article, enabling every region to form autonomies.

Catalonia is the most industrially advanced region of Spain and simultaneously the major tax-paying unit of the country. The population of Barcelona, Catalonia’s capital, is about 6.8 million people. The poorest regions of Spain oppose the extension of Catalonia’s autonomy, for they are likely to suffer a decrease in financing if the taxes Catalonia used to pay remain in the autonomy.