Spain descends toward "flawed Democracy"

Spain risks being downgraded from a "full democracy" to a "flawed" one over its handling of Catalonia's secession crisis, a research group that compiles an influential annual democracy ranking warned Wednesday. The country's score dropped from 8.30 to 8.08 in the Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) 2017 Democracy Index due to "its attempt to stop by force Catalonia's illegal referendum on independence on October 1 and its repressive treatment of pro-independence politicians." That same ranking for 2016 was cited by King Felipe VI last week to defend Spain's democratic credentials. The country's score remains just above the threshold of 8.01 for full democracies but Joan Hoey, editor of the index, warned it could further deteriorate depending on what happens this year. European citizens: this is the first "European issue" in our history; don't let it down.