Mariano Rajoy, the Spanish prime minister, passed this Tuesday through Carlos Herrera's radio program, just as the first criticisms (and first fears) are starting to come out that the application of article 155 of the Spanish Constitution, the absolute dismantling of any wisp of power in the Catalan government and its transformation into a purely administrative body, the expulsion from office of the legitimate government and the imprisonment of some of its members and the exile in Brussels of the president and the other ministers, might definitively crush the independence movement in the election on 21st December. Far from that happening, the pro-union side is showing its electoral ceiling in Catalonia in the first known surveys, published and filed in drawers. And PSC (Socialists' Party of Catalonia), PP (Popular Party) and Ciudadanos (Citizens) seem to have forgotten that joint demonstration of just weeks ago and are starting to slightly more than scratch each other. In the poor man's house (in terms of seats), joy is fleeting and sorrows last longer.
Rajoy is looking to save his legacy after a disastrous policy in Catalonia and an unknown repression on 1st October over the referendum. He also wants to justify the suppression of autonomy, because that's what article 155 has meant in practice. And for that, doubtlessly disproportionate, decision to allow him to puff his chest out and face up to the criticisms that are already coming from the far-right which, obviously, wanted more. Hence his protests against the accusations of fearfulness he's receiving over the Catalan issue. Or his explanations that he had fired the members of the Catalan government, "something which hadn't been done since the Second World War". Might it not have been done in so many decades because it shouldn't be done? Our colleague Anton Losada, expert in Galician politics, offered almost immediately a magnificent summary of the prime minister's trip to the COPE channel: Rajoy now doesn't give interviews, he makes appearances, "Mariano apparitions".
The hawkish image of the Second World War, the no-politics, the justice system, the public prosecutor. All forms part of the denial of the problem. But, as has been seen, that doesn't lead to a solution. And as the 21st December election comes closer and as we see the regrouping of the independence movement and a realignment of different candidacies in three lists with shared objectives taking shape on the horizon, Madrid wrinkles its brow. And looks on the fly to correct the mistake and the injustice of the ten political prisoners with some twenty days to go to the start of the campaign. And, behind the scenes, they were asked for disavowals to leave prison. Right, so it was an ideological issue? And in the middle of everything, Puigdemont. Who's stopping Puigdemont? And they hear him in Madrid: but doesn't that man stop speaking? And the political shuttle service today isn't between Madrid and Barcelona, but between Barcelona and Brussels. It recalls the trips Catalan made to Saint Martin-le-Beau to visit exiled president Josep Tarradellas during the Franco dictatorship. But he's not going to shut up, he'll be heard again. And a simple meeting between Puigdemont and Marta Rovira opens all the news bulletins. And, a thinker, that no one pays attention to, concludes: for this, it would be better for some to be free and the others at home. They'll end up being martyrs. But nobody listens to them.