What’s happening in Catalonia? The narrative put together by those in favour of independence is quite incredible: how is that so many Catalans feel so badly treated in a democracy like Spain’s? The crisis in Catalonia threatens the stability of Spain and even the European project.
The Corner | The fiscal situation is one of the arguments the pro-independents in Catalonia have been using. And in this regard, we wanted to share with our readers a snippet from a televised debate between Josep Borrell, a former president of the European Parliament, who describes himself as “Catalan, Spanish and European,” and Oriol Junqueras, leader of the pro-independence Catalan Republican Left (ERC) party.
The predicted train crash between the Catalan and the Spanish governments has now happened. But what’s next? It’s difficult for the referendum to be a success, but the the fact there is no independence in the short-term, doesn’t mean that the train crash is not going to have consequences in the medium-term.
Acting as an “agent provocateur”, Catalonia’s government intends to hold a wholly biased and unrepresentative independence referendum in early October. It knows the outturn will hardly attain half of the potential voters, as only a minority of the population favours an outright split from Spain.
Spain may not be the most common point of entry for most migrants and refugees to Europe – last year it received only two percent of arrivals – but it does seem to be facing increasing challenges in this area. Cities like Málaga and Tarifa, on the south coast, are currently struggling to manage arrivals, which so far this year have doubled those of the equivalent period in 2016.
The PSOE, which governed during two terms of office with an atypical leader, Zapatero, is now so disorientated that it’s suffocating and looking to leftism for some air without any basis. It’s on the point of taking Pablo Iglesias’ bait, that a Grand Coalition against Rajoy is possible.
Some things never seem to change and the Spanish left’s inability to unite against the right has looked like one of them. The two general elections and months of political paralysis Spain lived through between December 2015 and October 2016 saw the PSOE and Podemos locked in a battle for control of the left which turned poisonous at times and allowed the PP’s Mariano Rajoy to stay in power simply by doing what he does best – sitting back and watching.
It was the result Spain’s Socialist bigwigs had feared: a resounding victory for Pedro Sánchez in their party’s primary on Sunday, beating Andalusia premier Susana Díaz and former Basque premier Patxi López, to become leader for a second time.
After a turbulent year in 2016 for Spanish politics and especially for socialist party, the primary election for PSOE will be held next Sunday. The election of candidates had never generated so much interest in the media and the people, but this time is different. The future of declining social democracy across Europe could start clearing in Spain.
It makes for a good headline: “Spanish parties vote to exhume dictator Franco”. Apart from the implied drama of digging up a feared former ruler, those words suggest that there is now a consensus regarding the country’s historical memory and a willingness to act on it.