Chapter 672 - 313: New Administrative Divisions

When the results of the Spanish Parliament’s expanded meeting were announced, several passed proposals immediately sparked widespread discussion among all Spaniards.

The merger of several less populous regions was something most Spaniards were already aware of.

Except for a small number of Basques who would oppose it, most Spaniards were not against the Parliament’s proposals.

But what Spaniards did not expect was that, besides passing the merger and reorganization of administrative divisions, this expanded parliamentary meeting also passed proposals to reform the regions into states and to establish Barcelona as an independent administrative division.

Any one of these two proposals would be a significant change to Spain’s existing administrative divisions, let alone both proposals being passed at the same time.

Initially, the reform of administrative divisions did not have much impact on most Spaniards, but after the two proposals from the expanded meeting were passed, the reform of administrative divisions became something that was closely related to all Spaniards.

The most unwilling, perhaps, is the government of the Catalonia Region.

With Barcelona, Catalonia has a population of up to 3.12 million, ranking third among all regions in Spain.

But if Barcelona were to be separated, the population of the Catalonia Region would be reduced to only 2.49 million. Although a population close to 2.5 million could still rank third among all Spanish regions, after losing Barcelona’s industry, Catalonia’s importance among all Spanish regions has significantly decreased.

In recent years, with the development of the Barcelona Industrial Base, Catalans have gained many jobs. As a result, the living standards of Catalans have continuously improved, making the entire Catalonia the most prosperous and developed area in Spain.

Although whether Barcelona becomes an independent administrative division does not change the proximity between Catalonia and Barcelona, once Barcelona becomes an independent administrative division, the jobs in Barcelona will certainly not be biased towards Catalans but be fairly open to all Spaniards.

In the view of the Catalans, they have contributed significantly to the construction of the Barcelona Industrial Base. Why should Barcelona be separated from Catalonia because of parliamentary discussions?

This is not only disrespectful to Catalonia but also to all Catalans.

Just like the Basques before, the Catalans are also planning protests, and much fiercer protests at that.

They do not oppose the government-led reform of the administrative divisions, but why must Barcelona be established as an independent administrative division?

Regarding possible Catalan protests, Carlo decided to adopt an even more extreme approach than was used against the Basques.

Due to the small number of Basques, simply eliminating the more extreme leaders could solve the Basque protests and rebellious demonstrations.

But for the over 2 million Catalans, the method of only targeting the leaders cannot resolve the possible protests and rebellions.

Although Carlo had long strengthened control over Catalonia by relocating some more radical Catalans, this does not mean the remaining Catalans could seamlessly integrate into Spain.

Currently, there have indeed been some achievements in assimilating Catalans, but getting them to fully recognize themselves as Spaniards requires decades of effort.

As soon as the new administrative division reform plan was announced, all regions related to the reform entered a state of martial law.

A large number of police entered the cities to maintain order, and city governments issued orders prohibiting mass gatherings in the streets or other public places.

As soon as the police detect signs of a protest, they must immediately report it to the city government, which will then organize more police to the protest streets to forcibly disperse the crowds.

Of course, Carlo also explicitly prohibited violent suppression of protests. Unless it’s clearly the organizers and leaders of the protest, for most workers and people who are just incited to participate, it’s best to persuade them with kind words to voluntarily give up participating in the protest.

If they are really unwilling to give up participating in a protest, then consider using non-lethal weapons like batons.

To minimize the occurrence of large-scale protests, Carlo even issued orders linking the occurrence of protests with the political performance of local officials.

The occurrence of protests and how to reasonably handle the protesting crowds after the protests directly relate to the performance of local officials that year.

Performance evaluations are no joke; they can even affect these officials’ future political careers.

If they do not want to lose their positions early on, Spanish officials must pay attention to Carlo’s orders and try to prevent protests as much as possible.

For the Catalonia Region, where protests are most likely to occur, Carlo adopted even stricter control measures.

Before the announcement of the parliamentary meeting’s discussion results, Carlo had already transferred a large number of police from surrounding regions to Catalonia, especially in Barcelona, which was about to be separated to form an independent administrative division. Thousands of police were gathered there to maintain order on the streets.

To end the domestic turmoil in Spain as soon as possible, Carlo decided to prioritize the separation of Barcelona from the Catalonia Region, while other administrative division reforms could be postponed.