Catalonian press unites for autonomy

In an unprecedented initiative,12 Catalan newspapers, including *La Vanguardia*, have published a common editorial entitled "The Dignity of Catalonia", in which they express their support for Catalonia's Statute of Autonomy, the law that grants a special status to the region. Several provisions of the Statute - which was adopted in 1932, suspended under Franco, re-established in 1979, and modified and confirmed by referendum in 2006 - are likely to be invalidated by the Constitutional Court, which is shortly expected to deliver a verdict on the law. Specifically, the court may decide that the notion of a "Catalan nation" and its symbols--the Catalan flag, anthem, and national holiday - are unconstitutional. On this issue, the editorial asserts that Spain is a country composed of "regions and nationalities" and that "a mature pluralist and democratic vision of Spain will either stand or fall with the decision." It is a view not shared in Madrid, where El Mundo argues that the Statute of Autonomy was created “by a political oligarchy which aims to separate Catalonia, from the rest of Spain by disrupting the constitutional order and the model of democratic cohabitation."