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“Anything that gives the Catalan government more fiscal resources is good for research in Catalonia,” says Prof. Mas-Colell, who served as Catalonia’s minister of economy and knowledge from 2010-2016, believes the Catalan government places higher priority on research than the Spanish government. Many credit Andreu Mas-Colell, emeritus professor of economics at Pompeu Fabra, as the architect of the current research system in Catalonia. “Also, we would leverage on private investments to ensure that knowledge better reaches society.” These would be possible only if the Catalan government had control over tax legislation, and the power to regulate credit operations and the mechanisms for venture capital, adds Navarro. Navarro, director of the department of experimental and health sciences at Barcelona’s Pompeu Fabra University. “They would include the development of a fiscal policy encouraging private donations, whose treatment is now worse than in many other European countries,” says Prof.
#CATALONIA INDEPENDENCE PRO AND CONS FREE#
In the most recent round of European Research Council grants for early career researchers, ten of the 22 awards for scientists based in Spain went to those at institutions in Catalonia, despite the region comprising just 16 percent of the country’s population.Īdvocates of independence argue that Catalonia’s government has already acted to free universities from some of the bureaucracy that hampers academic recruitment and promotion in the rest of Spain, and claim that independence would allow this process to be accelerated.Īrcadi Navarro, secretary for universities and research in the Catalan government, says that independence would enable him to implement policy measures that Madrid has so far banned. On the same measure, the rest of Spain without Catalonia, meanwhile, ranks #25. It’s home to thriving industry, several top universities and research centres, and punches well above its weight in terms of the excellence of its research.įor example, Times Higher Education analysis of Catalan universities’ performance in the World University Rankings (WUR) shows that the region is third behind only the Netherlands and Sweden in terms of average scores for the citation impact of institutions’ research, among countries with at least five entries in the table. The US state department also threw its weight behind the Madrid, stating that it would back the Rajoy’s government to keep Spain united and Catalonia was an integral part of the country.Catalonia’s referendum has brought into sharp focus the potential benefits of independence for science in the region, but it has also highlighted the potential pitfalls that researchers could face if relations between the separatist region and Madrid sour further.Ĭatalonia is one of Spain’s richest regions, providing 19 percent of Spain’s gross domestic product. Reflecting on the Catalonia’s decision, European Council President Donald Tusk said the independence vote changed nothing and the European Union would only deal with the central government in Madrid. In an unprecedented move in Spain since the return of democracy in the late 1970s, the upper house of Spain’s parliament in Madrid authorised Rajoy’s government to rule Catalonia directly. In the wake of Catalonia’s declaration for independence, Spanish shares and bonds were sold off, reflecting business concern over the turmoil in the wealthy region. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)ĪLSO READ: Thousands of independence supporters in Barcelona celebrateĪftermath of today’s development and reaction of other nations A woman wearing an estelada or independence flag walks a long a street covered with referendum ballots threw by pro-independence demonstrators, during a rally in front of the Spanish Partido Popular ruling party headquarters in Barcelona, Oct. The crisis subsequently triggered a split in the region and fostered resentment within Spain. The entire sequence of events unfolded after Catalonia held an independence referendum on October 1, which was deemed illegal by the central government and courts in Madrid. Although it endorsed independence, only 43 per cent voters turned out as Catalans who oppose independence largely boycotted it.