Northern Spaniard living in Barcelona(Catalonia)here.
If I'm not wrong, the way it happened was: the independence vote was brough up and impulsed when Catalonia regional government couldn't get a larger chunk of the national budget and the central government didn't want to negotiate.
That, mixed with the central government enforcing the use of Spanish and other local cultural topics and their hostility towards Catalonia has definitely impulsed the independence.
To be honest, I don't think independence is a big issue for the average Catalonian. They have channeled their distisfaction with the economic crisis and corruption with a rejection to Spain and the central government. They usually think that Catalonia is above the rest of Spain in terms of economics development and corruption but the truth is, although Catalonia is more international and cosmopolitan(especially Barcelona), there are both unemployment and corruption here.
If I'm not wrong, the way it happened was: the independence vote was brough up and impulsed when Catalonia regional government couldn't get a larger chunk of the national budget and the central government didn't want to negotiate. That, mixed with the central government enforcing the use of Spanish and other local cultural topics and their hostility towards Catalonia has definitely impulsed the independence.
To be honest, I don't think independence is a big issue for the average Catalonian. They have channeled their distisfaction with the economic crisis and corruption with a rejection to Spain and the central government. They usually think that Catalonia is above the rest of Spain in terms of economics development and corruption but the truth is, although Catalonia is more international and cosmopolitan(especially Barcelona), there are both unemployment and corruption here.