On Tuesday night, the government of Catalonia signed, but suspended, a declaration of independence from Spain.
Led by Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, the north-eastern region held an independence referendum that was highly controversial and marred by violence.
The outcome, according to Catalan officials, was 90% in favour of yes – although this has been contested. The vote was declared unconstitutional and illegal by Spain’s central government and denounced by the European Union.
Had Puigdemont unilaterally declared independence, Madrid would have issued a warrant for his arrest. In fact, if Spain’s supreme court declares his ‘suspended’ declaration illegal, which is a possibility, the Catalan parliament, and the autonomy it grants the region, could be suspended.
One of Catalonia’s largest businesses is Seat. The Volkswagen Group brand has its headquarters and main factory in the town of Martorell, employing some 11,500 people, as well as other facilities in the Free Port in Barcelona. Seat achieved the best financial results in its history last year, with a turnover of €8.6bn (£7.7bn).
Martorell is the highest-volume production plant in Spain, producing around 2100 cars per day, with nearly 450,000 produced last year. These include Seat’s Seat Ibiza, Seat Leon and Arona and the Audi Q3. The next-generation Audi A1 is scheduled to be built there from 2018.
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VW would move SEAT production elsewhere
Some SEAT models are already made outside of Spain in other VW group plants, so they could shift more production to other plants if they had to.
But all the different "nightmare" scenarios are comparable to the Brexit debate!!!!
No one would miss Seat...
....yes I know lots of Catalans would be out of work.
VW would be just fine with VW, Skoda and Audi as its mainstream brands.
Good, Better, Best is classic marketing strategy.
No need for four brands.
Bertoni...
Ignoring that over 60% of voters ingnored the referendum or voted No to independence makes Carles Puigdemont no less a repugnent dictator than Franco or Hitler.
He's playing the people as pawns for his own vanity, knowing full well it's them who'll take the brunt and get hurt. He will be well protected and insulated from any violence or other costs.
Spanish Police....
The turnout, my friend, was frankly uplifting for the human spirit... given the reputation of the Guardia Civil. Fancy being beaten up by a Spanish cop before you get to vote ? I suspect not. You really should do your homework (as well as spell-check...sic: repugnent...)...although why let ignorance get in the way of thoroughly researched and balanced view-point ? Viva Catalunya.... :-)
Bertoni
So you think that having a poll of Carles Puigdemont supporters and they agreeing is enough to justify his actions?
The mock referendum only attracted 40%, not a good enough turnout. Those who weren't Carles Puigdemont supporters ignored the referendum. It was only held to create a grievance.
He is ignoring the 60% have want nothing of him.
Turnout....
Nearly 43% turnout under such intimidation is remarkable. Getting over 90% of all your voters - as you would have it - to actually appear and run the gauntlet through riot police is even more remarkable. I suspect you won't agree. Nonetheless, your staunch and effective defence of your assertion that Sig. Puigdemont is 'like Hitler' is hilariously absent.....unsurprisingly. I suspect it will remain so. Ho hum. We'll go back to the subject of cars....and leave it there.
Fraud.
Whatabout the widespread reports of fraud? People voting many times in open and uncontrolled polling stations? Towns with only a few hundred voters returning ballot boxes with thousands of votes?
They even caught one woman deliving ballot boxes to polling stations which were already filled with casted ballots (she fell getting off a train, spilling those papers across the platform, and caught on camera too).
You can look at opinion polls to judge if this was anywhere close to a representative result. They consistently say 60% or higher against independence.
This "referendum" was not democracy in action. Using the result from it is a fraudulant act.