The Basque government and the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) will in the coming hours receive a significant endowment from Pedro Sánchez and the Spanish government in the form of the transfer of the economic management of Social Security within the Basque Country, an authentic jewel in the crown for an executive which, more than any other, has all the economic elements to make the Basque Country function. Reading this news - something I am obviously glad about for the Basques, who will note an immediate improvement - alongside the discussion of the meeting date for the Spain-Catalonia dialogue table does nothing else than put on display just how small-minded politics can be. It holds up the stark reality for all to see: whether the Spanish government is led by Popular Party (PP) or Socialists (PSOE), the Basque government, or, what is the same thing, Basque nationalism, ends up taking away huge concessions from the negotiations it holds, while Catalan nationalism previously - and the independence movement now - always finds the door closed to all its requests.
And nor is it a question of who is in charge of the Catalan government or the independence process it initiated, as this only related to the presidencies of Quim Torra and Carles Puigdemont. Until 2012, in fact, Artur Mas's presidency had the support of the PP in the Catalan Parliament and yet it was exactly the same. And it happened before that to president José Montilla and to Pasqual Maragall before him: neither of the two Socialist presidents was given a candy as sweet as the management of Social Security. We are talking about a map of Autonomous Community powers that, for Catalonia, was closed and locked from Madrid after the year 2000 and José María Aznar's absolute majority. That is, twenty years ago, and since then, not even the commitment to the new 2006 Catalan Statute of Autonomy was able to be fulfilled by the state, which dismantled it piece by piece.
You, intelligent readers, will imagine that with the announcement made by the general secretary of the Basque Socialist Party, Idoia Mendia, an authentic civil war of PSOE and PP autonomous regions will ensue, criticizing the transfer of this competency to the Basque Country. Or frontal opposition to the measure by the PP and Ciudadanos (Cs), using the classic argument that it destroys the unity of Spain. For issues much smaller than this in Catalonia, we have been witness to spectacles in Parliament whose only purpose has been to generate a false narrative about the Catalan demands for infrastructure, regional funding or transfer of powers. Not to mention the Catalan proposal in 2012 for an autonomous financing system that resembled the one the Basques uniquely enjoy, and which was greeted with a loud door-slam at the Moncloa palace, with the major Spanish parties applauding the most, an event which irreversibly precipitated the current political situation in Catalonia.
I have always envied the unanimity of the Basque parties - from the PP to Bildu - all in agreement on transfers of competencies to the Autonomous government. No party in Euskadi thinks about giving up or questioning its unique economic deal, and Cs, who dared to raise the issue at one point, is an almost clandestine political group there, as it has no institutional representation in either the Basque Parliament or any of the municipal councils. It has been said, more than once, that things would be different for Catalonia if the unanimity were greater: radically false. The Statute reached Madrid with 90% support from the Catalan chamber and was opportunely cut down until it was unrecognizable. It must be concluded, therefore, that the problem does not originate so much here as elsewhere. And, until this is understood, it is very difficult to get the problem in even a minimal perspective.