By Owen Phelps, European Affairs Editorial Assistant
While Catalonia’s zeal for independence from Spain was temporarily sated last year after an unofficial referendum was called on the Catalan National Day in 2014, the ante has been raised higher recently, as independence leader Artur Mas has declared that the results of the Catalonian Parliamentary election this month (September 27) will serve as a vote on whether or not Catalonia will become its own state.
By James D. Spellman, Strategic Communications LLC
In a surprising and conclusive victory, the prime minister who had sharply reversed his ruling party’s approach by negotiating an eleventh hour bailout deal with Brussels last month, forcing Sunday’s election, won nearly half of Parliament’s seats.
By Michael D. Mosettig, former Foreign Editor of PBS’s The News Hour
The Wilson Center think tank in Washington often plays host to international heads of state and government. Less frequently does a center named for a U.S. president who entered a European war to "make the world safe for democracy" hear from a European monarch whose nation has struggled with that concept for nearly 100 years. But for Spain's King Felipe VI the visit and keynote speech at a security forum seemed smooth and effortless, a glimpse for Americans in the audience to see why his popularity ratings are at 81 percent 15 months after he took the throne following the abdication of his father amid some scandal.
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