Un pequeño resumen
Lo que te voy a pedir puede que para ti sea una molestia... Pero tengo que intentarlo:
La cuestión es que tengo un texto en inglés. Podría pedirte la traducción literal, pero el texto es bastante largo, y en realidad lo único que necesito es un pequeño resumen, con lo más importante y tal, lo típico. Reconozco que el texto es bastante largo, y hasta me da palo pedir este favor, pero si yo fuera capaz de hacerlo no lo pediría...
Bueno, no me voy a enrrollar más; te dejo el texto, y si puedes y quieres hacerlo, te lo agradeceré muchísimo; pero si no puede ser, pues ahí se queda.
El texto es para un trabajo; es el siguiente:
Around this time last year I mentioned the boycott on cava, the sparkling wine produced mainly in Catalonia. The boycott is on again this Christmas and, while last year it was seen with amusement by many Spaniards and the Spanish media, this time around people seem to be taking it far more seriously. The catalyst is the current campaign for a new statute of autonomy for Catalonia, something which has gone from a proposal last year to a very real possibility this year. This has prompted many Spaniards to vent their ire by boycotting one of the products most associated with Catalonia.
The fact that the boycott mainly affects a handful of Catalan companies in one sector doesn't seem to be deterring those with a nationalist mindset. "I am not buying cava... I check the labels. I don't like the way the Catalans are. They think they are superior," a Madrid lawyer told the LA Times. It's also prompted a lot of hijinks. Signs have appeared in Spanish supermarkets directing people to non-Catalan cava. In several cases the supermarkets have denied putting them up and pinned the blame on errant staff or even customers.
The big names in the cava business are now beginning to feel the heat. For example, Codorníu recently announced that sales in the Spanish market had fallen 4.37% during 2005. The Independent (sub. Req.) Also reported in November that Freixenet's Spanish sales for 2003-2004 were down 4%, the equivalent of around three million bottles. As for 2004-2005, the company has revealed that profits are down 17%. "Political circumstances have hit the cava sector in an unfair and painful way", Freixenet president Jose Luis Bonet told the Independent. The dip in the fortunes of Catalan cava has also been a boon to producers outside of the region. For example, sales of Extremaduran cava have increased seven-fold since last year.
Meanwhile, the issue that's causing all of this fuss, the new Catalan statute of autonomy, or the "Estatut" is slowly being hammered out in parliament. At the moment, following a campaign by the four Catalan parties in Congress, two of whom support the current minority government, it looks like a new statute is inevitable. What it will contain is the big question.
Yesterday's El Pais reports that some progress is being made in negotiations between the government and the Catalan parties. Definitive agreement has been reached on around 90 of the 227 articles of the new statute. Key issues have yet to be resolved however, including two of the most significant. For the first time the Catalans want to be referred to as a nation in Spanish law. Secondly, they're looking for a greater share of tax revenues to be administered by the regional government, the "Generalitat". At present the Catalans get 30%. They want 100%, something which is unacceptable to the government. Having already rejected an offer of 50%, it looks like they'll come away with a significantly higher proportion.
Each issue causes consternation amongst a lot of Spaniards. Already wary of Basque and Catalan nationalism, many feel that referring to Catalonia as a nation is a step too far, moving the region dangerously close to secession. Money as well as nationalism plays a key role in this debate. Catalonia is one of the most prosperous regions in Spain and many outside of the region suspect that the Catalans simply want keep their tax revenues in Catalonia and avoid subsidising other parts of Spain. The Catalans in turn feel that the only reason Spain is so keen to hold on to the region is that it acts as a cash cow for the rest of the country. Regional prejudices are never far from the surface. There's the perception that Catalans are arrogant and aloof, illustrated by the Madrid lawyer quoted above. Meanwhile, southern regions such as Andalucia are often seen by Catalans as lazy or wasteful.
All of this has been like manna from heaven for the opposition Partido Popular (PP), who were on a hiding to nothing following the Madrid bombings and loss of power in the subsequent elections. Finally PP has found a hot button issue that gets under the skin of a significant number of Spaniards and it's playing it for all it's worth, issuing dire warnings about the future of Spain should the statute pass into law.
PP of course has something of a short memory on this front. When it first gained power in 1996, the then leader José María Aznar needed the support of the Catalan CiU party to form a government. It was Aznar who ceded 30% of tax revenues, in addition to the abolition of military service and greater powers for the region's police, amongst other things to CiU leader Jordi Pujol. It was a real turnaround for Aznar, whose party when in opposition used to chant "Pujol, you dwarf, speak in Spanish". PP's current reversion to an anti-Catalan position is something of a gamble. Not only does the party risk being seen as hypocritical, i.e. Willing to make concessions when it suits; it's also leaving something of a hostage to fortune. It's a long time yet to the next Spanish general election. If the new statute comes into force and the predicted apocalyptic outcome never happens, the party will be accused of crying wolf.
Another thing to bear in mind is that this isn't the first regional crisis to face the current government. While everyone's been discussing the Estatut over their Christmas dinners this year, one of the main topics of conversation last year was "El Plan Ibarretxe", the proposal to rewrite the Basque statute of autonomy. On December 30th last year, the Basque premier Juan José Ibarretxe managed to get the Basque regional parliament to endorse a revised statute. What it proposed was essentially de-facto independence for what is currently the Basque Autonomous Community. Not only would it devolve further power to the Basque government, but it also involved separate representation for the Basque country in international organisations such as the EU and UN. Needless to say this has much of the rest of the country up in arms and both the ruling Socialist party and much of the opposition were strongly opposed to the plan.
On the face of it, the plan shouldn't have gone any further than this. It had to pass through the Spanish parliament and could also be challenged in Spain's constitutional court. Parliament would never pass it and the court was likely to rule it unconstitutional. However, a lot of other factors came into play.
First of all, Ibarretxe announced that he'd hold a referendum in the Basque country on the plan. Because only the national government can call a referendum, he called it a "consultation". The strategy was essentially an attempt to build up enough popular support behind the plan to make it difficult for the government to reject without appearing to ignore the right to self-determination. It was even suspected that...
La cuestión es que tengo un texto en inglés. Podría pedirte la traducción literal, pero el texto es bastante largo, y en realidad lo único que necesito es un pequeño resumen, con lo más importante y tal, lo típico. Reconozco que el texto es bastante largo, y hasta me da palo pedir este favor, pero si yo fuera capaz de hacerlo no lo pediría...
Bueno, no me voy a enrrollar más; te dejo el texto, y si puedes y quieres hacerlo, te lo agradeceré muchísimo; pero si no puede ser, pues ahí se queda.
El texto es para un trabajo; es el siguiente:
Around this time last year I mentioned the boycott on cava, the sparkling wine produced mainly in Catalonia. The boycott is on again this Christmas and, while last year it was seen with amusement by many Spaniards and the Spanish media, this time around people seem to be taking it far more seriously. The catalyst is the current campaign for a new statute of autonomy for Catalonia, something which has gone from a proposal last year to a very real possibility this year. This has prompted many Spaniards to vent their ire by boycotting one of the products most associated with Catalonia.
The fact that the boycott mainly affects a handful of Catalan companies in one sector doesn't seem to be deterring those with a nationalist mindset. "I am not buying cava... I check the labels. I don't like the way the Catalans are. They think they are superior," a Madrid lawyer told the LA Times. It's also prompted a lot of hijinks. Signs have appeared in Spanish supermarkets directing people to non-Catalan cava. In several cases the supermarkets have denied putting them up and pinned the blame on errant staff or even customers.
The big names in the cava business are now beginning to feel the heat. For example, Codorníu recently announced that sales in the Spanish market had fallen 4.37% during 2005. The Independent (sub. Req.) Also reported in November that Freixenet's Spanish sales for 2003-2004 were down 4%, the equivalent of around three million bottles. As for 2004-2005, the company has revealed that profits are down 17%. "Political circumstances have hit the cava sector in an unfair and painful way", Freixenet president Jose Luis Bonet told the Independent. The dip in the fortunes of Catalan cava has also been a boon to producers outside of the region. For example, sales of Extremaduran cava have increased seven-fold since last year.
Meanwhile, the issue that's causing all of this fuss, the new Catalan statute of autonomy, or the "Estatut" is slowly being hammered out in parliament. At the moment, following a campaign by the four Catalan parties in Congress, two of whom support the current minority government, it looks like a new statute is inevitable. What it will contain is the big question.
Yesterday's El Pais reports that some progress is being made in negotiations between the government and the Catalan parties. Definitive agreement has been reached on around 90 of the 227 articles of the new statute. Key issues have yet to be resolved however, including two of the most significant. For the first time the Catalans want to be referred to as a nation in Spanish law. Secondly, they're looking for a greater share of tax revenues to be administered by the regional government, the "Generalitat". At present the Catalans get 30%. They want 100%, something which is unacceptable to the government. Having already rejected an offer of 50%, it looks like they'll come away with a significantly higher proportion.
Each issue causes consternation amongst a lot of Spaniards. Already wary of Basque and Catalan nationalism, many feel that referring to Catalonia as a nation is a step too far, moving the region dangerously close to secession. Money as well as nationalism plays a key role in this debate. Catalonia is one of the most prosperous regions in Spain and many outside of the region suspect that the Catalans simply want keep their tax revenues in Catalonia and avoid subsidising other parts of Spain. The Catalans in turn feel that the only reason Spain is so keen to hold on to the region is that it acts as a cash cow for the rest of the country. Regional prejudices are never far from the surface. There's the perception that Catalans are arrogant and aloof, illustrated by the Madrid lawyer quoted above. Meanwhile, southern regions such as Andalucia are often seen by Catalans as lazy or wasteful.
All of this has been like manna from heaven for the opposition Partido Popular (PP), who were on a hiding to nothing following the Madrid bombings and loss of power in the subsequent elections. Finally PP has found a hot button issue that gets under the skin of a significant number of Spaniards and it's playing it for all it's worth, issuing dire warnings about the future of Spain should the statute pass into law.
PP of course has something of a short memory on this front. When it first gained power in 1996, the then leader José María Aznar needed the support of the Catalan CiU party to form a government. It was Aznar who ceded 30% of tax revenues, in addition to the abolition of military service and greater powers for the region's police, amongst other things to CiU leader Jordi Pujol. It was a real turnaround for Aznar, whose party when in opposition used to chant "Pujol, you dwarf, speak in Spanish". PP's current reversion to an anti-Catalan position is something of a gamble. Not only does the party risk being seen as hypocritical, i.e. Willing to make concessions when it suits; it's also leaving something of a hostage to fortune. It's a long time yet to the next Spanish general election. If the new statute comes into force and the predicted apocalyptic outcome never happens, the party will be accused of crying wolf.
Another thing to bear in mind is that this isn't the first regional crisis to face the current government. While everyone's been discussing the Estatut over their Christmas dinners this year, one of the main topics of conversation last year was "El Plan Ibarretxe", the proposal to rewrite the Basque statute of autonomy. On December 30th last year, the Basque premier Juan José Ibarretxe managed to get the Basque regional parliament to endorse a revised statute. What it proposed was essentially de-facto independence for what is currently the Basque Autonomous Community. Not only would it devolve further power to the Basque government, but it also involved separate representation for the Basque country in international organisations such as the EU and UN. Needless to say this has much of the rest of the country up in arms and both the ruling Socialist party and much of the opposition were strongly opposed to the plan.
On the face of it, the plan shouldn't have gone any further than this. It had to pass through the Spanish parliament and could also be challenged in Spain's constitutional court. Parliament would never pass it and the court was likely to rule it unconstitutional. However, a lot of other factors came into play.
First of all, Ibarretxe announced that he'd hold a referendum in the Basque country on the plan. Because only the national government can call a referendum, he called it a "consultation". The strategy was essentially an attempt to build up enough popular support behind the plan to make it difficult for the government to reject without appearing to ignore the right to self-determination. It was even suspected that...
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nice - Hayden ro
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