Republic of Catalonia (World War III, The Flood and Emugan Contact)

Catalonia, officially Republic of Catalonia, was a sovereign state between 2015 and 2040.

It was member of the UN, OECD and WTO. During World War III, Catalonia sided with the Western Coalition after Morocco invaded the Iberian Peninsula. It joined the EU and then the Eurozone in 2033 and 2036 respectively. During the last years of the Flood Wars, Catalonia co-founded the Organisation of the Asylum Nations (OAN).

Pre-World War III
Since the adoption of the Spanish Constitution of 1978, Catalonia has gradually achieved more autonomy in comparison to the other autonomous communities.

A relatively large sector of the population had been supporting the ideas and policies of Catalan nationalism, a political movement which defended the notion that Catalonia is a separate nation and advocated for either further political autonomy or full independence of Catalonia.

In the Catalonian parliamentary election, 2012 the independist coalition of CiU and ECR won with one of their promises being held a referendum about Catalan indpendence.

In 2014, a week after the Scottish independence referendum, the Catalonian independence referendum was held and an amazingly 65 % of people voted yes to the independence of Catalonia. The Spanish governments tried everything they could to prevent this, but Catalonia declared independence in 2015. Spain, reluctant to do it, recognised its sovereignty along with most of the UN nations.

In the next five years, Catalonia experienced a big economical growth due to investment in the industrial and tourism sectors. This period of economic welfare secured the victory of the CiU in the election of 2019 and the reappointment of Artur Mas as prime minister.

During the Second Cold War, Catalonia didn't play a significant role; nonetheless, it helped Turkey in the Cyprus Civil War, which Turkey lost resulting in Cyprus under communist rule, and supported Israel, Iraq and the U.S. in the Second Iran-Iraq War, which was a success because in short time Iraq changed its penal code leaving out the sharia law and became a liberal democracy.

World War III
During the first part of WWIII, Catalonia supported the Western Coalition, but didin't get involved in the war directly. However, the government included warfare expenditure in the budget, especially defence equipment. This changed when Morocco invaded the Iberian Peninsula, leading to the involvement of Catalonia in the war.

During the second part WWIII, Catalonia, Portugal and Spain fought back the islamic invasion from Morocco. Prime minister Sergi Paret also deployed several flotillas to protect the Balearic Islands from the upcoming Algerian invasion. These flotillas held back the Algerian invasion and after securing the all the islands, Paret ordered some the ships to go to the Gibraltarian Strait after receiving a distress signal.

After arriving to the Gibraltarian Strait, the flotilla admiral Francesc Gomis discovered that the Islamic League controled it. Soon after, he called for reinforcements and when they got there, Gomis and his English, Spanish and Portuguese counterparts attacked in what is known as the Battle of Gibraltar. After two weeks, Gibraltar was recovered, but Ceuta and Melilla were lost.

During the third part of WWIII, vice prime minister Carolina Fittoria became acting prime minister after Paret got injured in the 2026 Geneva Palais Eynard bombing. Under Fittoria's leadership, Catalonia deployed several missile cruisers which were able to take Algiers and other Algerian coastal cities.

Post-World War III - Pre-The Flood Wars
After the state of emergency was lifted, general elections were held and Diego Ferrandis, from the Socialist Party, became prime minister. During this time, the Catalans were more concerned about the rising on the sea level, especially in Barcelona. To deal with it, Farrendis proposed to the parliament the possibility of moving the capital from Barcelona to another one. The parliament apporved the law and two weeks later, a referendum was held to decide which city would become the new capital and Girona was chosen.

Organisation of Asylum Nations
In his first term as prime minister, Ferrandis opened borders to people coming from the Balearic Islands, Brittany, Corsica, Sicily and Sirdinia. He also proposed a plan to unite nations less affected by the Flood and provide them a temporary place to live with the hope that some day these people could return home.

In 2032 elections, the Socialist Party formed a coalition with the Green Party to retain the majority in the parliament and they succeded. During this term, Ferrandis focused in more integration with other European countries and after a referendum, Catalonia entered the European Union in 2033. In 2034, Ferrandis gathered with other world leaders in Switzerland to discuss the foundation of an organisation that would help refuges from flooded zones. After two years of negotiations, Catalonia co-founded the Organisation of Asylum Nations (OAN) in 2036.

Formation of the United Federation of Europe
By 2036, polls indicated that again more people would vote for the isolationist CiU, which first promise was to leave the European Union and the OAN. To retain the majority, the People's Party joined the coalition and Nuria Soler became prime minister. Under Soler's leadership, Catalonia joined the Eurozone.

The last action done by the Catalan government was holding a referendum about the membership of Catalonia in the planned United Federation of Europe. The referendum was held in September, 2039 and the result was 60 % of the people voting yes to Catalonia becoming part of the United Federation of Europe.

Population
8,900,000 (2015), 10,275,600 (2018), 12,120,000 (2023 census), 14,740,000 (2029 census), 17,460,000 (2034 census), 20,280,000 (2039 census), estimated by 2040: 21,000,000.

Ethnicity
In the 2039 census, these were the ethnic groups of people living in Catalonia:
 * Catalan (Andorran included) 67.3 %
 * Other Spanish 8 %
 * French 6 %
 * Occitan 7 %
 * Italian 5 %
 * Breton 3 %
 * Maltese 1.2 %
 * Others 0.5 %

Languages
Under the Constitution of the Republic of Catalonia, the official languages were Catalan and Spanish, which had to be understood by all the population. As English and French were thaught in schools, they were widely spoken.

During WWIII and the Flood Wars, the waves of immigrants brought other languages to the country. According to 2039 census, Occitan had over 1.47 million speakers, Italian had over 1.05 million speakers, Breton had over 630,000 speakers and Maltese had 252,000 speakers.

Religion
In the 2039 census, these were the religions to which Catalans were affiliated:
 * Roman Catholic 62.4 %
 * Protestant 7.3 %
 * Other Christian 3.2 %
 * Judaism 1.2 %
 * Reformed Islam 1.1 %
 * Neopaganism 2.3 %
 * Other religions 4.1 %
 * Agnostic 12.4 %
 * Atheist 4 %