No matter how much the print newspapers in Madrid have tried to hide it - the odd daily in Catalonia muffling the story as well - it is scarcely debatable: all you have to do is look at the European press and the French, English and US news agencies and it is clear that Saturday's demonstration for the Diada, Catalan National Day, was a success. With the pandemic at a low ebb but with many still afraid of taking to the streets to demonstrate, the independence movement showed its pulling power and brought together the largest concentration of people since back in March 2020 when Covid-19 changed the paradigm. The question is now how to make the most of a Catalan citizenry that says to its politicians “Don’t weaken”, that calls for unity between the parties, that expresses a certain exasperation when they slip into short-sighted politics, and that feels cheated in the absence of a roadmap.
It is not easy to find the optimal point of management for all these feelings and initiatives, but the independence movement once again has good cards in his hand to avoid mistakes and make its three-fold commitment credible: amnesty, referendum and self-determination. All this, in the week that will be marked by the officially and pompously labelled "Table of Dialogue, Negotiation and Agreement" and at which, incidentally, we still don't officially know whether prime minister Pedro Sánchez will attend, as he is deliberately holding on to the card of his presence when it would make little sense to sit down and talk about the conflict between Catalonia and Spain in his absence. Sánchez knows this, but given the little interest he has in the table, he must want his mere attendance to have political value in itself.
The starting point for the dialogue table is the Pedralbes Declaration, agreed between Pedro Sánchez and Catalan president Quim Torra on December 20th, 2018 and from which the Spanish government has fled like a scalded cat for almost three years despite the commitment to monthly meetings. In that document, Sánchez's executive acknowledged the existence of a political conflict over the future of Catalonia, pledged to move forward in a democratic response to the demands of the citizens of Catalonia, in a framework of legal certainty (it avoided talking about the Constitution) and was obliged to make a commitment to effective dialogue aimed at articulating a political proposal that would have broad support in Catalan society.
The Spanish executive signed the paper, got up from the table, blamed the Catalan pro-independence forces for the failure to meet again and so on and so forth until this week. After almost three years, you would expect that the Sánchez government - as it is the same as for that previous meeting, apart from the natural changes in portfolios - would be able to prepare a proposal that is serious equal to the task of the political conflict, to counteract the Catalan demand for amnesty, referendum and self-determination. In terms of time to do this, there has been plenty, but I'm afraid that in terms of political will, which is what really matters, none.