Spain’s Geography and Climate (add topography?) (Map/appendix as well)
Located in southwestern Europe, surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea, the North Atlantic Ocean, the Bay of Biscay, and the Pyrenees Mountains, just southwest of France, lies the country of Spain (The World Factbook, 2017). This country extends 505,182 km2 over the Iberian Peninsula (“Business Culture in Spain,” 2014). When compared to a state in the United States, such as Kentucky, Spain is almost five times the size of the state (The World Factbook, 2017). The climate in Spain is mostly Mediterranean, although the country features diverse types of weather in various locations; winters are pleasant and mildly cool and in the coastal regions, the summers are hot. In the northern and southern mountain ranges, the Pyrenees and Sierra Nevada respectively, the climate is elevated and alpine. It is in these parts of the country and the north as well that it is not unusual to see snow from the beginning of winter to the end of spring. The southeastern part of Spain is semi-arid whereas the Canary Islands are subtropical (“Business Culture in Spain,” 2014).
Spain adheres to the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and is in the Central European Time zone (CET) and Central European Summer Time zone (CEST). The entire country uses CET (UTC+1) during the winter and CEST (UTC+2) for the summer months, from March to October (“Business Culture in Spain,” 2014).
Spanish Demographics and Religion (add income level too)
According to The World Factbook, there is an estimated amount of 48,958,159 Spaniards living within the regions of Spain (“Spain,” 2017). Madrid, the capital of Spain, has the largest population density of 6.199 million, with Barcelona and Valencia following at 5.258 million and 810,000 respectively. The ethnic groups are a combination of Mediterranean and Nordic types. The official language of Spain is Castilian Spanish, but several regions have their own recognized regional language, such as Basque in the Basque Country, Catalan in Catalonia, Galician in Galicia, and Valencian in Valencia. The Spanish Constitution guarantees freedom of religion (“Languages and religion”, 2017). Roman Catholicism is the central religion in Spain, with 67.8% of Spaniards practicing, whereas the rest are atheist, other, non-believer, or unspecified, (“Spain,” 2017).
Clean drinking water is available to 100% of the country, both urban and rural. While, the access to sanitized facilities is available to 99.8% of the urban population and 100% of the rural population. Most Spaniards age fifteen and over can read and write; As of 2016, the literacy rate of Spain was 98.3% (“Spain,” 2017).
Spanish History (Remember to mostly focus on Franco to now)
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Infrastructure in Spain
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Spain’s Government and Legal System
The Spanish Constitution of 1978 states that Spain is a social and democratic state subject to the rule of law, in which Spain strongly advocates liberty, justice, equality, and political diversity as the strongest primary values of their legal system (“Sistema judicial en los Estados miembro – España,” 2016). The constitution is based on the unity of the Spanish Nation, the homeland of all Spaniards, and it establishes the basic principles and rules of Spain’s political and legal framework (Lasance, 2008).
In Spain, the chief of state is King Felipe VI as of June 19th, 2014 and the head of government is Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who has been in office since December 20th, 2011. The monarchy is hereditary, next in line would be the Heir Apparent Princess Leonor, Princess of Asturias and daughter of the monarch. The prime minister chooses the cabinet, which is a council of ministers, as well as the vice president (Government – Spain, 2017).
Although Spain is a country as a whole, it is divided into seventeen autonomous communities and two autonomous cities, the North African cities of Ceuta and Melilla. Each of the communities and cities have its own governing and parliamentary bodies, as well as legislative power within the range of its given powers. Such legal provisions will only apply within their autonomous community or city (Lasance, 2008).
As a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, the Kingdom of Spain consists of three different levels of government: municipalities, autonomous communities, and the central government. The constitution of 1978 establishes the limits and powers of each and every level, occasionally there are disputes between the Central state and the autonomous communities or between the communities themselves which may have to be settled by the Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court is not considered a part of the court system, but as an independent institution. This court is the supreme interpreter of the Constitution and deals with appeals for protection of fundamental rights and with the constitutionality of laws (Lasance, 2008).
The Spanish legal system is a civil law system, with regional variations, that follows the continental model of administering justice. The system is a hierarchical organization of the judiciary, with a system of judicial appeals – the constitution holding highest position in the hierarchy (Lasance, 2008). This includes a separation between the public and private sectors of the legal system, which is then also divided into sections such as: constitutional, criminal, administrative, tax, civil, commercial, labor, and procedural matters.
Spain has twenty political parties currently, with the Prime Minister of Spain being the leader of the People’s Party. According to The World Factbook, updated in 2017, the parties are listed as follows:
Austurias Forum (FAC)
Basque Country Unite (Euskal Herria Bildu) or EH Bildu (Pello URIZAR)
Basque Nationalist Party (PNV or EAJ)
Canarian Coalition (CCa)
Canarian Nationalist Party (PNC)
Catalan European Democratic Party (PDeCat)
Catalonia Yes (CatSci)
Ciudadanos Party (C’s)
Compromis
Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG)
Gomera Socialist Group (ASG)
Initiative for Catalonia Greens (ICV)
Unidos Podemos
Popular Party (People’s Party) (PP)
Republican Left of Catalan
Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE)
Union of People of Navarra (UPN)
Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD)
United Left (IU)
Yes to the Future (Geroa Bai)
The sources of Spain’s laws are regulated by the Spanish Civil Code. These sources of Spanish law are statutes, custom, and general principles of law. The statutes are the primary source, whereas the rest are subsidiary. Customary rules are usually not written law and came from society rather than from the State. This type of law is typically only applicable if there is no preexisting pertinent law and does not contradict any morals or public laws. General principles of law are essentially basic rules that are blended in with the legal system (“Legal system,” 2010).
Spain’s Educational System (Add in vocational for workforce)
The Ministerio de Educación (Ministry of Education) shares responsibility with the autonomous regions of Spain’s education authorities. In the beginning, the Spanish education system was laid out by the new constitution of 1978, then it underwent a period of several reformations from 1990 to 2008 (“Education system Spain,” 2015). There are four levels of the Spanish education system: Educación Infantil (infant education), Educación Primaria (primary education), Educación Secundaria Obligatoria (secondary education), and university education, which is composed of the Bachillerato (upper secondary education) and Selectividad (university entrance exam) (“Estudiantes,” 2017). Only primary and secondary education in Spain is compulsory. Infant education is for children up to six years of age and consists of two different cycles, children up to age three and children ages three to five. Primary education begins at age six and ends at age twelve. Secondary education is from ages twelve to sixteen. Both feature a general academic curriculum and the academic year runs from September to June (“The Spanish education system,” n.d.). After the age of sixteen, education is no longer considered required and the students can now legally enter the workforce or continue their education. There is an upper secondary education featuring a baccalaureate from ages sixteen to eighteen called the bachillerato. The students have a more varied curriculum and can now chose from the three academic pathways: exact sciences and technology, humanities and social sciences, and art (“Education system Spain,” 2015). They leave with a Título de Bachiller (Title of Bachelor). Afterwards, the students have an entrance exam to attend university. From the pathway that they chose, students will graduate with a Título de Graduado, the equivalent of an undergraduate degree in the United States (“Education system Spain,” 2015).
Spain’s Military (Bases? A business advantage for defense contractors, too)
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Spanish Economy (with currency?) (Add industry here?) (Bulk of paper possibly)
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Spain’s Relationship with Other Countries
Belgium has a notable history of diplomatic tension with Spain over several rejected extraditions of Basque separatist linked to the separatist organization, Euskadi Ta Azkatasuna (ETA) (Basque Homeland and Freedom). This organization was originally accused for the March 11th, 2004 Madrid train bombings, as they are a known violent political party. The former Catalan president and his separatist party have maintained close ties with Belgium’s Dutch-speaking nationalists, New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) (LOOK AT RECENT).
Recent Events
In September of 2017 Spain’s constitutional court blocked Catalonia, a region in the northeastern part of Spain, from holding a vote to separate from Spain, which prompted the regional officials to go ahead and vote in defiance of the courts. The courts have previously ruled against Catalonia’s path to try and hold an independence vote. This occurrence had raised the stakes in the ongoing conflict between Spain’s central government in Madrid and Catalonia’s capital and regional government in Barcelona. As per Catalonia’s defiance, Catalonia had set the vote on secession from Spain for October 1st. The main tactic of these secessionists is to provoke and irritate the central government of Spain into an overreaction of sorts in order to increase the international awareness about the Catalan cause (Neumann, 2017a).
Referendum supporters had flocked to more than 1,000 polling stations that were opened by pro-independence groups in schools and other local buildings; even families with small children attended to occupy the stations and avoid their closure for the vote. An official from the central government said that the figure was closer to several hundreds. And despite the fact that the central government in Madrid had already seized about 10 million ballots, poll workers had blank ballots ready for those to arrive on October 1st independence (Lombardi, Neumann, & Sindreu, 2017). Adding more to the defiance from Catalonia, court orders were sent to 17,000 police officers in the region of Catalonia, the Mossos d’Esquadra (Mossos). They were seen doing nothing to stop the voters from polling, even after receiving the orders but, the Mossos answer directly to the Catalan interior minister and just as the rest of the Catalan government, supports independence (Lombardi, Neumann, & Sindreu, 2017).
By early morning of October 1st, Spain’s national polices forces, the Civil Guard and the National Police, arrived dressed in riot gear to remove people occupying the polling stations and blocked them from entering some polling stations. A conflict occurred at this referendum that was branded illegal by the government of Spain in September, causing the country to be on the edge of political and constitutional calamity with more than 760 people injured and 11 police offices hurt after the clash between the two at the illegal vote that started a battle between the Catalan president and the Prime Minister of Spain (Lombardi, Neumann, & Sindreu, 2017).
There was some confusion after the illegal vote if the Catalan president has decalred independence or not. First the separatist leader, Carles Puigdemont declared the region of Catalonia to be an independent republic based on the results of a prohibited referendum, but following this announcement, he asked lawmakers to suspend this declaration (Legorano, & Neumann, 2017b).
Catalonia declared independence through a secret vote to approve the declaration, but Prime Minister Rajoy stated he was dissolving Catalonia’s parliament and set new legislative elections for December 21st, invoking for the first time ever, emergency constitutional powers granted to him by Spain’s senate in late October, backed by his own center-right Popular Party, which has the majority in the Senate, and two main opposition parties, which have all said that they would support stripping Catalonia of some of its powers if separatists insist on secession. (Neumann, 2017b).
These never before used powers come from Article 155. Although it is a mere two sentences from the Spanish Constitution of 1978, it grants Madrid (the central government) the power to “take all measures necessary to compel [a self-governing] community to meet” legal obligations it is refusing to fulfill. The article has never been used since the document was approved back in 1978, when Spain transitioned to a democracy after the death of longtime dictator Francisco Franco (Legorano, & Neumann, 2017a).
Just after Catalonia’s parliament declared independence for the northeastern region, Spain’s central government immediately seized temporary control of it over a matter of days; Mr. Puigdemont and around 150 separatist officials, including the regional police chief, were ousted. Mr. Puigdemont was in Belgium early November as Spain’s state prosecutor, José Manuel Maza, stated they were seeking charges against him and the other thirteen former Catalan separatist leaders for not just sedition, but for rebellion and misappropriation of public funds as well (Drozdiak, & Neumann, 2017).
Belgium’s junior minister for asylum was considering possibly granting the former Catalan leader asylum in Belgium, seeing as the junior minister is a member of a party that openly supports the separatist movement in Catalonia. However, the Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, swiftly denied that their government was not considering asylum for the ex-leader, specifically stating, “it was not on the government’s agenda,” (Drozdiak, & Neumann, 2017).
In regard to the charges being sought, if the Catalan leaders are found guilty of sedition, they could face up to fifteen years in jail, but if they are found guilty of rebellion, they could face up to thirty years in prison. The penal code of Spain defines rebellion as “violently and publicly” declaring “the independence of a part of the national territory.” Whereas sedition is defined as acting “publicly and tumultuously to prevent, by force or other illegal means, the application of law” or preventing an authority from carrying out their administrative or judicial orders (Drozdiak, & Neumann, 2017).
Just a few days after the announcement that they were seeking charges, a Spanish judge, Judge Carmen Lamela, issued an international arrest warrant on Friday for the ex-leader of Catalonia’s regional government and four of his ex-ministers; after recently fleeing to Belgium; this could bring about a legal battle to force the Catalans to return to Spain. These ex-officials have already defied an order to appear before her (Neumann & Pop, 2017).
Nine former Catalan officials, who had also served in the separatist movement under Mr. Puigdemont, have been sent to jail under Judge Lamela. She rejected a request from Mr. Puigdemont and the four ex-officials to testify via videoconference from Belgium, her reasoning being that it had no legal justification since the defendants technically live in Spain and were simply in Belgium to avoid the Spanish judicial process (Neumann & Pop, 2017).
As of November 5th, a Belgian judge ordered the conditional release of the ousted Catalan leader, and four former officials. Mr. Puigdemont and his former officials had turned themselves in to the Belgian authorities after it was announced that the Spanish authorities requested their extraditions after they fled to Brussels. The Belgian judge has decided to release Mr. Puigdemont and the other four officials under the condition that they do not leave Belgium, stated the Brussels prosecutor’s office. Under this conditional release, the Catalan ex-officials must reside at a fixed address, attend court hearings, and comply with the request of the Belgian authorities. A Belgian court will make its first decision the extradition within fifteen days. Although it can be appealed twice, which would extend the legal battle for possibly as long as two months, the ruling made by the Cassation Court, the highest appeal court, will be final (Pop, 2017).
The crisis that was triggered by the regional government in Catalonia’s illegal independence referendum and afterwards declared independence, has reawakened Spanish nationalism in Spain’s citizens, including 54% of Catalans who oppose independence (Nixon, 2017). Many Spaniards believe Catalan independence as an existential issue for the country. A breakaway of the richest region in the country would lead to other regions demanding independence as Spain’s financial arrangements would collapse. This possible collapse has ensured strong public backing for the central government to uphold the Spanish constitution and the rule of law, this includes the direct rule Madrid has imposed on Catalonia and new regional elections to be held on December 21st this year to replace the former Catalan separatist leadership (Nixon, 2017).
The imposition of direct rule and the arrest of the Catalan leadership has not led to disorder, in fact, the separatists are losing momentum and pro-independence parties are projected to fail in winning the majority in the Catalan parliament in the elections being held in December. Catalonia will remain under direct rule from the central government, their budgets and institutions under the full control of Madrid until there is a new Catalan leader in place, but at any given time the direct rule will be imposed yet again should the new leadership refuse to abide by Spanish law. It is certain now that the central government will not back down in defense of Spain’s constitution and territorial integrity and nothing less should be expected so (Nixon, 2017).