that in 2014 Catalans may have paid about 10 billion Euros (or about US$12 billion) more in taxes to the State than what it received in exchange. As of 2014, an independent Catalonia would be the 34th largest economy in the world. Should Catalonia secede from Spain, some residents of Val d'Aran (population 10,000) have stated they might break away from Catalonia, although others state that the local identity has only been recognised by the Catalan Government, something the Spanish State never did. Criticism Opponents of Catalan independence have accused the movement of racism or elitism, and argue that the majority of the Catalan public does not support independence. In an op-ed for The Guardian Aurora Nacarino-Brabo and Jorge San Miguel Lobeto, two political scientists affiliated with the anti-independence Ciutadans Spanish nationalist party, disputed the claim that Catalonia has been oppressed or excluded from Spanish politics. They argued that the independence movement is "neither inclusive nor progressive", and criticised nationalists for excluding the Spanish speaking population of Catalonia, and resorting to what they argue are appeals to ethnicity. These criticisms of ethnic-based appeals and exclusion of Spanish speakers have been echoed by other politicians and public figures opposed to independence, such as former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe González, and the leader of Ciutadans in Catalonia Inés Arrimadas. Polls show that the wish for independence is positively correlated with having Catalonia-born parents and grandparents, families which also tend to fare better economically. Statements by different key figures in the independence movement have sometimes contributed to this view. In 2013 Carme Forcadell, then president of the influential Assemblea Nacional Catalana and later president of the Parliament of Catalonia publicly declared that the Partido Popular and Citizens were not part of the 'Catalan people' and hence were 'enemies' to defeat. Former president of the Parliament of Catalonia Núria de Gispert has been involved in controversy over the years due to her Tweets, including comparing members of those two parties with pigs to be exported, or for revealing the address of the school where Citizens' leader Albert Rivera's daughter studied. Quim Torra, who was appointed president of the regional parliament of Catalonia in 2018, was also involved in controversy regarding past tweets suggesting “Spaniards know only how to plunder” and describing them as having “a rough patch in their DNA”. Members of the Catalan independence movement have strongly denied their movement is xenophobic or