Mas waves the independence flag CATALAN independence, if it ever happens, has been pushed back at least seven months after the region’s president, Artur Mas, decided not to call a snap election but to opt instead for September 27th. The election is still being promoted as a plebiscite on independence, but not in the way Mr Mas once hoped. His original plan for a single list uniting all the separatist parties has been dropped at the insistence of his rivals from the Catalan Republican Left (ERC). In last-minute horse-trading, he accepted that ERC would stand separately from his own Convergence and Union (CiU) coalition, in exchange for its support for this year’s budget, which his minority government could not pass alone.That has turned the September poll into one as much about winning power as about independence, with ERC well-placed to oust CiU as the most popular party. The timing is both good and bad for the separatists. It comes just two weeks after Catalonia’s national day, on September 11th, which campaigners have turned into a mass event in recent years. But they would still have preferred a February vote, before Catalans are…
