The Economy of Catalonia

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from the Spanish State, the debt already possessed by Catalonia and the commitments that the Generalitat has undertaken for future years. 34 The debt of the new Catalan State, in the worst scenario considered, would be 103%, which would lie in the high range of debt as per EU-27. 35 If the comparative criterion is strictly that of the EDP, the debt at the birth of the new Catalan State would be lower than those of Belgium, Ireland, Greece, Italy, Portugal, France and the United Kingdom. Just as is explained further on, it should be kept in mind that we have not been able to identify and quantify an extremely large amount of assets to which Catalonia would be duly entitled in the distribution of the assets of the predecessor State. In the event in which such assets were to be quantified and distributed appropriately, Catalonia would find itself in an enviable situation since its debt would not then exceed 53% of its GDP. We should not get ahead of ourselves in drawing conclusions, however, so now we will consider the rules applicable to this matter. The regulatory framework of the succession of States in matters of property, archives and debts Regulatory framework The distribution of property and debts of the State shall be agreed on by means of an international treaty. The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties of 1969, which is in force, is applicable. Also applicable are the General Principles of Law. Fundamental rules are the principle of good faith, the prohibition of threat and of the use of force to establish international treaties, etc. Likewise, the principle of unjust enrichment is applicable. Negotiation will be necessary for both parties. The lack of agreement would oblige Catalonia to disregard the Spanish State’s public debt insofar as agreement were not to be reached, or what is the same, the lack of agreement on the matter of debt would be the event that would, in itself, oblige negotiation. 34. Authors’ Note for English edition: According to the Direcció General d’Anàlisi i Seguiment de les Finances Públiques (General Directorate for analysis and monitoring Public Finances), a large part of this extra financial debt was converted into financial debt in 2013 35. See Eurostat. http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/government_finance_statistics/data. 154 The Economy of Catalonia
The main source of International Law that regulates this matter is the Vienna Convention of 1983 (hereafter called VC83). VC83 has not been ratified by all the States, nor will it probably ever be, since it establishes a system which is favourable to the States attaining independence and which harms the interests of the powers in respect of the decolonisation process. VC83 is not a treaty that obliges some parties to conduct themselves in any specific way, but rather it is a general codification treaty providing rules of customary character based on international custom, which are of obligatory compliance and which assert the predominance of the will of the parties, the proportional and equitable distribution of property and debts, territoriality and the allocation of property, among other aspects. Despite the fact that VC83 is not in force since it has not been ratified by all the States, it is the only legal instrument that provides all the rules of International Law on the distribution of property, archives and debts of the State. This Convention has gone through a very long regulation process that includes the studies of the United Nations International Law Commission as well as the observations of each of the States. It also includes the thinking of the internationalist doctrine. Accordingly, it may be used by the International Court of Justice to ground judicial decisions. On the part of the Spanish State, some voices have questioned the effectiveness of VC83 36 due to the fact that it has not been ratified by all the States. As Albert Pont states, however, «... the fact that it is not in force on a point of form does not mean that some of its provisions do not have legal effects per se. All its provisions which are of customary character have legal effects by the mere fact of their being rules accepted by all the States with international practice, regardless of whether they have been codified in a text or not». «The circumstance of its not being in force does not mean that two States cannot mutually agree to apply it in a particular case for want of any other specific regulation on the matter «. «Nothing prevents the States from agreeing on something else because their will comes first». «In any case, we have to consider it positively. VC83 is not in force for either Spain or Catalonia. Neither of the two can demand its compliance by the other party without 36. It is interesting to consider the various opinions of professors of constitutional law on this matter in the article «Una Cataluña independiente se quedaría con los bienes que el Estado tiene en su territorio» (An independent Catalonia would keep all the property that the Spanish State has in its territory). El Confidencial. 1 October 2012. http://www.elconfidencial.com/espana/2012/10/01/una-cataluna-independientese-quedaria- con-los-bienes-que-el-estado-tiene-en-su-territorio---106459. Debt and distribution of assets 155
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The Economy of Catalonia Questions
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Oriol Amat, Núria Bosch, Antoni Ca
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Contents Preface to the English Edi
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Preface to the English edition This
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Preface (Translated by Jordi Vilano
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Introduction (Translated by Jordi V
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1 The position of an independent Ca
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United States such as Massachusetts
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2010, Catalonia was in 64th place o
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fact, this combination of factors a
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ilar population to Catalonia and sh
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ence in emerging markets, especiall
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fact, the high proportion of multin
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egion in volume of inward investmen
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mega-regions towards sustainability
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also be confronted with the paradox
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the reasons that are emerging for a
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This 47.1% signifies a considerable
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2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Estim
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and there would be no need for cuts
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centage of freight between Spain an
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to prevent Spain’s point-blank re
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) The effects on markets, especiall
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speak of the coefficient of central
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Bibliographical references Amat, O.
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Rodríguez Mora, J. V. (2012) «Por
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For the purposes of economic analys
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It should also be recalled that the
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The reasons for regional economic i
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their mind» about European integra
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the Copenhagen criteria, which esta
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in the European Economic Area, whic
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ing the status of member of the Uni
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3.2. In or out of the European Unio
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were to veto the request, experts e
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In November 2012, Granell expressed
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-The regulatory fragmentation that
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would have to find alternative solu
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economic shocks, any one of which,
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In my opinion, an impartial reading
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4 In or out of the euro 4.1. An ind
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Analysis of possible scenarios Scen
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official currency and financial ins
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nisms and the European interbank pa
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arising from the integration of a h
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4.2. In or out ofthe euro: certaint
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prevent or limit damage to the mult
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Let me make a short comment on the
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context of a Spain that leaves the
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Col·lectiu Wilson (2012) «Europe,
Page 106 and 107: termediation, which is performed by
Page 108 and 109: The Catalan financial system The Ca
Page 110 and 111: Financial institutions with headqua
Page 112 and 113: • The bank was put up for auction
Page 114 and 115: had risen by 16.3%, staff had been
Page 116 and 117: go to Brussels and say that they ha
Page 118 and 119: Appendix This article is complement
Page 120 and 121: The Catalan Public Sector in the Eu
Page 122 and 123: 20% 18% 18.8% 16% 16.2% 15.5% 13.6%
Page 124 and 125: 9% 8% 7.9% 7% 6.5% 6.4% 6.2% 5.8% 5
Page 126 and 127: It is very obvious that Madrid has
Page 128 and 129: Spain Catalonia Generalitat Variati
Page 130 and 131: - Armed Forces: in the form of army
Page 132 and 133: Pérez, F. (DIR), Cucarella, V. and
Page 134 and 135: and to the private sector. Another
Page 136 and 137: 2006 2007 2008 2009 Direct taxes 17
Page 138 and 139: method, that is to say, the expense
Page 140 and 141: itory. The same applies to the prog
Page 142 and 143: 2006 2007 2008 2009 Spanish State e
Page 144 and 145: e obtained. Table 3 shows that the
Page 146 and 147: with the EU in the period 2007-2013
Page 149 and 150: 8 Debt and distribution of assets 2
Page 151 and 152: this study. The difference between
Page 153 and 154: the State’s property and debts on
Page 155: It may be asked whether the new Cat
Page 159 and 160: Principles of distribution of asset
Page 161 and 162: Immovable property of the State con
Page 163 and 164: Social Security Reserve Fund On con
Page 165 and 166: Investments according to Additional
Page 167 and 168: Forecasts Million euros 2007 2008 2
Page 169 and 170: Possible negotiation scenarios What
Page 171 and 172: Even if it were only possible to ev
Page 173 and 174: States that form part of 21st-centu
Page 175: Spanish Royal Decree 496/1987, of 1
Page 178 and 179: Social Security contributions, pens
Page 180 and 181: ury and its managing agencies (auto
Page 182 and 183: citizens tend to join the labour ma
Page 184 and 185: in the economic, social and cultura
Page 186 and 187: declaration of independence, the bo
Page 188 and 189: oycott would have a more pronounced
Page 190 and 191: the will of the people. The great m
Page 192 and 193: Guinjoan, M. and Cuadras, X. (2011)
Page 194 and 195: Denmark, Finland, Austria, the Neth
Page 196 and 197: 2012 Company Sector Sales (€m) 1
Page 198 and 199: Export companies There were 43,176
Page 200 and 201: Spain, and appreciably more than th
Page 202 and 203: Conclusions After considering how c
Page 204 and 205: likely to be in the firing line are
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IDESCAT (2013), based on data from
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the sample represents 20.8% of its
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No opinion Increase the centralisat
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sioners, business people and/or the
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Impact on the Catalan economy In th
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alternative. This is not supported
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More specifically, 94.6% of pension
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37.8% 57.8% 4.4% Yes No opinion No
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fessionally and 47.8% believe it wo
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13 Conclusions: economic certaintie
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having less potential and less per
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Catalonia had been an independent S
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ands and a declining proportion of
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Anton Gasol. Doctor of Economics, f
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The Economy of Catalonia

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