 There were massive demonstrations in 2010 and 2012, after which the Catalan government organised independence referendums in 2014 and 2017, the latter forming the basis for the Catalan declaration of independence of 2017.The presence of a distinct Catalan language has been seen as the basis for "the claim of Catalonia to be considered as something more than a mere region".Catalan is spoken also in Valencia, the Balearics, and certain adjacent areas of France.