Via The Daily Bell
It’s all illegal! That’s Madrid’s position on the referendum in Catalonia. Of about 5.5 million eligible voters, about 2.4 million chose–or were able–to cast ballots. 90% of them voted in favor of independence from Spain.
Spanish courts have ruled, and leaders have repeated, that the country’s Constitution does not allow a region to separate. European Union courts have echoed this position.
The House passed its 2018 budget resolution Thursday (with 18 Reps voting against) crossing the first threshold toward its goal of sending tax reform legislation to President Trump.
As WaPo reports, the House budget resolution includes major spending cuts demanded by the party's conservative wing, but the party's focus is now on passing a tax bill that could add as much as $1.5 trillion to the budget deficit. Special procedures set out in the legislation would ultimately allow Republicans to pass the bill over a potential Democratic filibuster in the Senate.
Over the past two months, China, North Korea’s economic benefactor and formally the source of 90% of its foreign trade, has been withdrawing financial support, ostensibly under the auspices of US sanctions, as Communist Party leaders try to rein in the North’s nuclear program to appease the US and prevent a potentially destabilizing conflict on its border – a development that would be particularly unwelcome during the Communist Party’s upcoming national congress.
Catalonia’s bid to separate from Spain had prompted investors to dump bonds issued by the region’s two biggest lenders, CaixaBank SA and Banco de Sabadell SA. Today, in a signal that the banks are taking thelikelihood of Catalonia independence very seriously, Sabadell has called a board meeting to approve a change of headquarters outside of the region.
The last few days' drop in Catalonia's biggest bank bonds has prompted an even more serious reaction by the banks themselves.
Authored by Alex Christoforou via TheDuran.com,
Catalonia continues to press on with its independence movement, much to the dismay of Spain and the European Union. Catalonia is not the only region in the EU demanding more autonomy or independence.
Here are seven regions in the European Union that may seek separation, and cause more fragmentation in an already weakened Europe.
1. Scotland, Britain