"Not available. Wouldn’t want to talk about that. Could cost me business from the Catalan pro-independence side or from the side that wants Catalonia to stay a part of Spain" – These were some of the answers we heard from various business owners and executives whom we contacted for interviews before our trip to Barcelona, to report on the continuing stalemate between Spain and Catalan independence advocates.

Four months after elections for the Catalan parliament, the pro-independence majority in Parliament hasn’t voted in a new Catalan president, who would form a government. About half of the voters there want Catalonia to remain in Spain. 

But since the independence push caught the globe’s attention last autumn, some 3,000 businesses have moved their legal headquarters out of the wealthy northeastern region, whose capital is Barcelona. Hotel and restaurant owners have decried a drop in tourism, although some recent reports indicate there’s been a rebound.

In the picturesque Santa Caterina market in Barcelona, vendor Luis Lamiel, originally from another part of Spain, told CGTN that business for his hams and cheeses is down at least 10 percent. Nearby, olive oil vendor Daniel Mercade tries to get through the day without discussing politics with his clients.  

Just last weekend, tens of thousands protested in central Barcelona, demanding freedom for Catalan pro-independence leaders in Madrid prisons awaiting trial on sedition or related charges. The pro-independence camps calls them political prisoners.

At the ornate Catalan parliament, two members, one from a pro-independence party, the other from the unionist side, told CGTN that the problem is that the other side, not their side, needs to soften its position.

About the only thing they can agree on is that if there’s no new Catalan president chosen by May 22, new elections would have to be held in the summer. No one we talked to sees the political tension disappearing anytime soon.