If I were Pedro Sánchez, I would fear the worst and wouldn't take election for certain until the last of the 350 delegates has voted on Tuesday in the second and final round of his investiture as prime minister. The shabby Spain, that of the "tamayazos"1, that which supports the civil war, the one which is anti-democratic, that of the deep state, the one which breaks laws and sorts things with public prosecutors, that of the media which plainly and simply supports a coup, the one which manoeuvres indistinctly behind shady bodies like the Central Electoral Commission or which hides behind the Supreme and Constitutional Courts with the unity of Spain as its sole law, is willing to do anything.
Never has the investiture of a Spanish prime minister caused such embarrassment and distanced the Congress further from the European Parliaments it's said to resemble. There are first- and second-rate democracies, just like there are first- and second-rate parliaments. May they be welcome those recent arrivals to the tension who now seem to have discovered Inés Arrimadas or PP's Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo. Arrimadas has been doing the same thing in the Parliament of Catalonia for years, fervently supported by those who now say they are horrified. It's clear that the little scenes against independence supporters always seem funnier in Madrid and the famous reconciliation was a great farce. The lesson offered by the United Kingdom, starting with the monarchy, of its handling of former leaders of the IRA is very far from shouting "murderers" at an EH Bildu delegate.
The sad and worrying spectacle in the Congress this Sunday is nothing more than a taste of what is come. In a few hours, all the lies have fallen: the persecution of independence supporters was a way to save the regime before everything exploded. Today, Spain is broken into a thousand pieces. Its international image is very diminished and there's now no Global Spain which can fix the mess. It's not that we Catalans don't fit, but that many Spaniards are horrified by what they've seen.
It's probable that the path started on by Pedro Sánchez with this investiture has no way back, although it's also true that that seemed to be case after the confidence motion. But then the right was KO'd and not swollen as it is now, with Vox out front setting the pace. We'll see if this 6th January during the Pascua Militar parade presided over by the monarchs at the Royal Palace with all the leadership of the three branches and the Civil Guard there's no out-of-place remarks.
Translator's note: 1. The "tamayazo" occured in 2003 during the vote to invest Rafael Simancas (PSOE) as president of Madrid. During the second round, Eduardo Tamayo and María Teresa Sáez, from his own party, abstained, leading his candidacy to be unsuccessful.