A dispute that has a lot to do with sovereignty and the way Spain understands its membership in Europe has this weekend led to a collision between the Catalan and Spanish governments related to the wildfire in the Alt Empordà, close to the town of Llancà, which burned more than 450 hectares of land and was active for three days. The conflict has its origins in the request from the Catalan interior ministry and the director general in charge of firefighting and rescue, Joan Delort, who asked the Spanish executive to demand help from France so that two powerful seaplanes that were on the ground in Perpinyà could come to help get the fire under control. Delort's explanation could not have been clearer: the French seaplanes were fifteen minutes from the fire, had a very high operational capacity and would be, without any doubt, the first to arrive on the scene and begin tackling the blaze.
Due to these things that only happen in Spain, the Pedro Sánchez government ruled out this option without a second thought and the ministry preferred to send planes from Huesca, Pollença or Zaragoza before asking for help from the French authorities. A curious way of perceiving our membership of the European Union and of approaching a situation that is not at all about borders, flags or even hectares burned. On the other hand, it is about international aid, European cooperation and human lives. Because yes, it is fortunate that we haven't had to face the trauma of losing human lives, but at the time the absurd decision was taken by the Spanish ministry it could not be said for sure that the fire would not end up out of control and the tramuntana wind, which has been strong in recent days, would not end up taking its toll.
Luckily, at eight o'clock on Sunday night, firefighters declared the blaze in the Cap de Creus under control, and 350 people evacuated from housing estates not only in the Llancà area, but also the municipalities of Selva de Mar and El Port de la Selva, were able to gradually return to their homes. It is not the first time in recent years that the ministry in Madrid has resisted asking for help from the French authorities after a suggestion had been made by the Catalan authorities, and it is a move that seems petty and provincial. As if when you have to tackle a major fire it is a question of national teams and not professional firefighters with expert knowledge of the terrain and the most optimal conditions to act.
Although we are accustomed to observing how difficult it is to reach agreement with the Spanish government on any type of progress on self-government - and obviously any kind of agreement that responds to the political conflict and the fiscal pact is impossible since the Spanish Constitution always gets in the way - but among the increasingly bizarre excuses, this matter of the French seaplanes should appear in the Guinness Book as a record-breaking display of the stupidity of a centralist and old-fashioned state. Unable to understand from offices 600 kilometres away that Perpinyà is right beside the fire, even if there is a border in the middle to fly over.