Spanish nationalism(s)

Xavier Casals
3 min

Spain’s ruling Partido Popular comes across as a party with a single, homogenous nationalist face but, in fact, it varies all over Spain, especially in Catalonia and the Basque Country, where it competes against other nationalist rivals. What follows is an overview of how it has evolved.

Across the board

The first change was prompted in 2006 by the emergence of Ciudadanos, the first example of a new kind of political party in Spain: it presented itself as a catch-all, civic, anti-establishment movement (their slogan was “Rebel!”). Ciudadanos rejects all forms of essentialist nationalism and supports “equal rights for all citizens”, from a “liberal-progressive” and a “democratic socialist” stance. Its success gave rise to a similar initiative in the Basque Country, embodied by Unión, Progreso y Democracia (UPyD) and its leader, Rosa Díez.

However, Ciudadanos and UPyD (who got a combined 9.6 per cent of the Spanish vote in the last European elections) constitute two rival options within the “civic Spanish nationalism” that will now compete in the Spanish arena.

Splinter groups

Spain’s new nationalism is also apparent in two rather different parties that broke away from PP: Vox (right-wing) and Foro Asturias Ciudadano (FAC), a regional party that opposes the predominant bipartisan system.

Vox was born in December 2013 and, interestingly, is led by a Catalan (Aleix Vidal-Quadras) and a Basque (Santiago Abascal). Their party --which Abascal has defined as “unashamedly right-wing”-- wants “a strong, efficient united nation, but with devolved administrative powers”. They obtained 244,929 votes in the European elections, so none of their candidates were elected and last June they suffered a leadership crisis.

The FAC (also known as Foro) was created in February 2011 and is the personal brainchild of its leader, Francisco Álvarez-Cascos (the party’s acronym matches the initials of the leader’s own name). It is defined as “a movement of free citizens” against “the condition of mere subjects to which the ever-present party structures have condemned the people of Asturias”. In the 2011 regional elections in Asturias, the FAC came top of the class with 29.6 per cent of the vote and rose to power, albeit without a majority in parliament. In the 2012 snap elections, it won again but had to stay in the opposition benches.

Local experiments

Spanish nationalism has also taken new forms within the PP through the mayors of two large towns: Xavier García Albiol in Badalona (population 219,708) and Javier Maroto in Vitoria (population 242,147).

With a strong personal leadership, both mayors have picked immigration as their big issue. At present, Maroto is entangled in a controversy around petitioning for tougher legislation to make it harder to apply for Subsidised Income, a local benefit that immigrants (among others) receive. According to Mr Maroto, nowadays this benefit encourages immigrants to “flock” to Vitoria.

Both experiences rest on an indentity-based axis (locals vs. foreigners) that seeks to overshadow the dichotomy between Spanish vs. Basque (or Catalan) nationalism and thus weaken the latter.

Breaking uniformities

This overview would not be complete without mentioning the PSOE and Podemos, who represent a left that is willing to change Spain’s territorial organisation so that it matches the multi-national makeup of the country.

First of all, the PSOE has taken onboard a federal view of Spain, encouraged by the Catalan socialists who promote a project that is respectful of “the diversity of nations, cultures and languages of Spain”. The PSOE’s new position lacks credibility in Catalonia, as Pasqual Maragall --the flag-bearer of federalism in Catalonia-- eventually abandoned the socialist party. Likewise, the PSOE’s regional “chiefs” feel uncomfortable with this policy, too. For instance, José Bono has stated that “asymmetrical federalism is like a priest who doesn’t believe in God”.

Then there is the unknown quantity of Podemos and the sort of state organisation it might advocate. In his 2014 book “Escac al poder” (“Check on the Power”), Roger Tugas writes that Pablo Iglesias (Podemos’ leader) supports the idea of “Spain’s diversity and the freedom of its nations to decide” while members of Podemos would like to rebuild the state starting from “those independent nations who request to join in”. But when the Spanish Constitutional Court struck down the vote of November 9, the Catalan leaders of Podemos didn’t sign a document drafted by ICV in support of self-determination. Nevertheless, in their Barcelona rally of December 21st, Pablo Iglesias spoke in favour of the right to decide, but not of independence.

Could we see a new scenario?

To sum up, we have seen that there is no such thing as a uniform Spanish identity. This is an important issue, as the parliament arising from the upcoming elections could be rather different from the present one. It might also put an end to the current lack of movement on the matter of Spain’s regional organisation: an opinion poll published by El Periódico on December 20 suggested that the PP might get 115 seats, with the PSOE and Podemos getting 181 between the two of them. A different matter is the potential effect of their proposals on a Catalonia where a secession process is well underway. Will the “third way”(1) be a dead end?

The author, Xavier Casals, is a Catalan historian.

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(1) N.T. In the current Catalan independence debate, the “third way” would be the equivalent of “devolution max” in Scotland: a change in the status quo without full independence but with greater devolved powers.

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