Every year, I notice more and more nationalism in Galicia. Which is a strange trend to comprehend. Galicia is experimenting an interesting moment economically, even if its population is shrinking, its GDP continues to grow, outpacing Spain in general (not that it’s hard to). Even if Galicia is typically a conservative stronghold (Spain’s former PM is Galician), in the 2019 elections Partido Popular lost over a hundred municipalities, and they might lose control over the Xunta in the next elections to PSOE. Interestingly, Galicians don’t like the far-right VOX party, nor do they like the far-left Nationalist Block.
As far as I can understand, the liberals in Spain tend to be the ones more open to the idea of independence... specially when it comes to the more, erm, historically different autonomous communities... Specifically... Catalonia. Galicia has been a part of Spain officially since around 1830.
But it’s still bizarre because I think that most of the people who want Galicia to become independent don’t really want to understand what that would mean.
Yes, Galicia has low debt, and is pretty much a revenue-neutral Autonomous Community in Spain Meaning that at least tax/budget wise they wouldn’t loose out much.
-Just for perspective, Galicia’s debt to GDP ratio is half that of Catalonia-
Even if the conservatives are slated to lose, their strong majority in two of the four provinces (Lugo and Ourense) mean that a would-be independent Galicia would still be slowed down by partisanship... just like the rest of Spain. So they wouldn’t win anything there... Additionally, unless Galicia entered into the EU immediately after becoming independent, the economy would plummet. The main economic drivers in Galicia are dependent on favorable trade and business cooperation agreements.
Politics wise it doesn’t seem like they would be enjoying much independence or improvement anyway.
It’s also worth mentioning that no one speaks Galician ... At least properly. It’s a hard language to learn, and it’s not properly taught at school... Only 30% of Galicians claim it’s their main language, and that would be the street version which is just... not good.
Cultural stuff is important, and they’ve kept their architecture, cuisine, and art better than their language... it truly feels like it’s own thing. But the influence of Spain, and specially the EU, is also sort of present... and it creates this weird mashing of ideas that seem at times at odds.
In the end it seems like something that would just hurt the economy, it would further polarize people in europe, and they would still have to deal with a mostly Spanish-speaking population. Why some people, specially young Galicians, want to do it is beyond me.