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It's now some time since the political party Ciudadanos (Citizens, in its English translation; Cs, in its acronym) ceased to have significance in Catalan politics, and there are several reasons why it has fallen into its current ostracism after becoming, in December 2017, the largest political force in the elections to the Catalan Parliament: the massive flight of its leaders to Madrid and an inability to lead a pro-Spanish union discourse that gave the slightest hope of victory rather than an indefinite perpetuation of the conflict between Catalonia and Spain. You might be a unionist but it's simply not necessary to ask prosecutors to review the 48-hour leave from prison for the Jordis, Cuixart and Sànchez, after 47 months in jail, an unfair and cruel sentence, and especially when they had served the required 25% of their sentences before asking for their first brief time outside the gates. This is not politics, it is acting with a thirst for revenge, something very far from the values of Catalan society.

The results of the Spanish elections of 10th November 2019 had already showed up the decline of Cs, and its leaders failed to understand the warning. Interim leader Inés Arrimadas is following the same policy as her predecessor Albert Rivera and the latest polls, such as that by the public CIS polling agency, only accentuate the shrinkage and position the party as a residual option, while its hundreds of thousands of voters seem to have landed on Vox, PSC and, to a lesser extent, the PP, in an interesting realignment of Spanish unionism.

The latest Cs incident relates to a complaint made to the Catalan Parliament's Bureau by the council of parliamentary staff, which has reported intimidation by the Ciudadanos party. The personnel who work at the Catalan legislative chamber affirm that there have been attempts to affect their objectivity, professionalism, integrity, neutrality, responsibility and impartiality. This is not an ordinary allegation by public officials. We hope that the Bureau of Parliament will act in consequence as the times of gangsterism have passed.