BARCELONA: Basque separatism has long angered the Spanish government, but recent calls for greater autonomy from economic powerhouse Catalonia have revived fears that the fabric of Spain’s national identity may be unravelling.

Since the beginning of Spain’s democratic era following the death of dictator General Francisco Franco in 1975, the push for autonomy by its richest province has alarmed politicians in Madrid — for some outweighing the menace of Basque separatism.

“Terrorism in the Basque Country is a question of public safety, but the real problem is the Catalans’ sense of their different-ness,” Spain’s longest-serving prime minister, Felipe Gonzalez, said famously after two years of his 1982-1996 term.

For 22 years Catalonia has been run by political boss Jordi Pujol, who was content to make peace with whoever held power in Madrid in return for more increases in regional autonomy.

Pujol retires at regional elections later this year.

He leaves a bitter fight to succeed him in Barcelona’s gothic palace of the Generalitat, as the Catalan government is known, with the two main rivals vying for the nationalist vote.

Whoever wins, both candidates have pledged to rewrite Catalonia’s 1979 Statute of Autonomy, which regulates relations with central government. That would also imply changes to Spain’s 1978 constitution, revered by the ruling Popular Party (PP) as untouchable.

The charter was a reaction to 40 years of centralized government under Franco. It gave considerable autonomy to Spain’s 17 regions, notably the Basque Country and Catalonia, but stressed that Spain is a single country and mandated the Armed Forces to maintain its unity.

Already shaken by Basque prime minister Juan Jose Ibarretxe’s attempts to wrest greater autonomy from central government, the Catalan proposals have caused panic in the PP.

“It would be a very serious historical and political error to open the lid of constitutional reform now as the nationalists are asking,” said Jaime Mayor Oreja, a senior PP figure whom polls favour to succeed retiring Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar as the party candidate at general elections next year.

Arturo Mas, Pujol’s heir in his Convergencia i Union coalition, and Pasqual Maragall, the popular head of the local Socialist Party, have in recent weeks proposed revisions to Catalonia’s statute of autonomy and the Constitution.

Mas is seeking the right to self-determination for the six million Catalans, direct representation for Catalonia at a European level, control of immigration and income tax.

Maragall, who polls predict will win the autumn election to the regional parliament, is more moderate but still wants to see Catalonia recognised as a “nation” within a federal Spain.

If elected, he has pledged to hold a referendum on a new statute before 2005.

“The constitution talks of several peoples within Spain, but it does not say which they are nor which of them are different nations. We need to be specific and say Catalonia is a different nation,” Maragall said.

PP politicians have been quick to tarnish the initiative as electoral opportunism and possibly illegal.—Reuters