"We Catalans pay too much tax to Spain," says CiU leader

The leader of center-right Catalan nationalist group CiU, Artur Mas, pushed a strong economic message in his campaign to win over voters in the northeast region during an interview to be publishedin Tuesday'sEL PAÍS.

Mas said that "Catalans are paying too much tax to Spain."

He complained that "solidarity is one thing and abuse is another," insisting that the "root of the problem is that a productive region like Catalonia still ends up with worse infrastructure and welfare than regions who receive money."

The CiU leader said that if successful in Sunday's regional ballot, his party will push for a new tax agreement from central government after general elections in 2012, whether the ruling party be Socialist or conservative. "All that we ask is that part of the wealth produced by Catalonia are kept in Catalonia," he went on.

The CiU leader added that Catalonia was not just a straight success story. "This region also has many problems: 20 percent poverty, a 31-percent school drop-out rate and 41 percent youth unemployment, all this double the European average." CiU, one of whose campaign videos shows a Spaniard robbing a Catalan's wallet, are predicted to win the upcoming regional vote