How could Catalonia, with a population of around seven million, sustain itself as an independent nation?

Much the way as Norway, Ireland, Finland, Iceland and a good few others I imagine - regardless of how many people sneer at their incompetent football teams, 'half-baked politicians', and 'half-trained monkeys'. How does Malta survive?

Has anyone done the math? The Spanish government certainly has.

Catalonia, along with the Madrid area and the Basque country, is one of Spain's economic motors. Spain would be poorer and economically and culturally much weaker without Catalonia, and that's one of the reasons why every Spanish government  has always been paranoid, to a lesser or greater degree, about any movement towards greater autonomy for Catalonia.

And while it's true that in Barcelona Spanish is probably more widely-spoken than Catalan, and that it's cool to speak Spanish in the playground etc, that's just not the case in rural Catalonia. I drive round Tarragona province and the Ebro area every week, and rarely hear Spanish spoken.

Rant over  8-), i bon dia a tothom.

AgentX