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Is there an equivalent of the act of union in Spain which is the argument made by the SNP to justify independence.

• Veen 8y ago
  Catalonia has been part of Spain since Aragon and Castile were united in the 1500s, longer ago than the Act of Union. But there has been consistent support for independence for centuries, including terrorist activity in recent decades. The Catalan independence movement has a lot of support in Catalan -- last year the Catalan regional government unilaterally held an illegal referendum on independence. The independence movement won, the Catalan executive declared independence, and Spain was forced to impose direct rule. Catalan independence is a bigger headache for Madrid than Scottish independence is for London.
  • harperlee 8y ago
    > The independence movement won To provide more context for readers not familiarised with this: most of the people that would have voted “No” didn’t show up to vote because it was generally understood (by the noers at least) to be an illegal and non-legitimate vote and they did not want to legitimate it by voting. In those circumstances it is quite easy to get a “Yes”, but it is less clear that it is a “Win”.
    • Veen 8y ago
      Right, turnout for the referendum was very low. But I don't imagine Madrid wants to add fuel to the fire by encouraging other separatist movements, including Scottish Nationalism (unless they want to give the Brits a poke in the eye for Gibralter, which is unlikely). There's also the Basque region.