The idea of national independence has long been a cherished dream for millions of Catalans.

In fact the
region's push for autonomy in the 1930s was one of the main reasons behind the Spanish Civil War and
the resulting Franco dictatorship. As Spain was ruled by an totally authoritarian government, many civil
rights and liberties were broken and ethnic, linguistic or cultural minorities were supressed. All different
social-cultural groups were forced to assimilate into the mainstream Spanish identity. The abuse by the
central government was at it's worst in Catalonia and Basque country. Following the end of Francisco
Franco's regime in 1975, Catalonia has gained more autonomy and independence. Since medieval times
the Catalans were known for their industry and aptitude as merchants and traders. Without getting into
the inter-party politics or linguistic-cultural differences, the current Catalan separatistic movement has
everything to do with finances. In short, Catalonian region pays a disproportionately high amount of
state taxes for it's population size and the rest of the Spain benefits from this, but Catalonia does not.
The central government of Spain wants to keep it's current taxation policy same, while Catalans would
like to see their money being spent in their region. Historical, linguistic and cultural differences has
helped to formulate the political arguments to support an idea of full independence from Spain. The
potentially peacebable solution for unification could be - giving Catalonia the same fiscal autonomy as
Basque region has. As a result Catalans will be able to control their tax policy but politically they will stay
part of Spain. In case of secession of Catalonia, interesting secondary result could be that conservative
wing will completely dominate the Spanish politics, because Catalonia has historically been the most
liberal region of Spain. This secession may also encourage Basques and Andalusians to seek their
independence. These changes will have significant impact on the geopolitics of the Iberian peninsula and
the whole southwestern Europe.