It is no coincidence that the rioting that has taken place in Barcelona and other Catalan cities around protests calling for the release of rapper Pablo Hasél has coincided with the necessary process of trying to establish political agreements to form the government that will rule in Catalonia for the next four years. Catalan instability always has beneficiaries and the fact that among those arrested there are rioters of Italian or French nationality is further proof that we must distinguish between demonstrators who protest peacefully about an arbitrary and disproportionate imprisonment, and those others, always a minority, who loot shops or set fire to a police van with an officer inside. An act that deserves repudiation without palliatives.
In the same way that it is necessary to distinguish the Mossos d'Esquadra in general from those agents who have carried out inappropriate and indictable actions and who should have been punished. The aroma of misgovernment, the result of the exceptionality of the moment, has not helped either. The Catalan interior minister arrived late to the debates, a figure as important in the Mossos organization as the chief of the Catalan police has not given any public explanation in the whole two weeks of street violence, and the whole government has lacked the political energy to offer the best of responses. Partly, it has been squeezed between its job of governing and the complex task of negotiating deals to establish a stable executive that will responds to the choices of voters on February 14th.
At present, and with the parties having put their cards on the table, the only possible way forward in the coming weeks is an agreement between ERC and Junts, with the external support of the CUP. The only possible variant would be for the Comuns to rectify their initial position and join the government. All other options have been ruled out by both ERC and the PSC.
While it is true that making pacts requires time and a certain demonstration of mutual faith, the situation does not permit unnecessary flourishes. ERC and Junts will have to make amends and work hard to stop the situation of disloyalty and obstruction of the last three years from happening again. And as confidence is not gained in just a couple of days, the sooner they start, the better. If not, there is a risk that disagreements will escalate, rent-a-riot will keep up the battles on the street and the option of new elections will loom ever larger. And with that, who knows whether it will also put at risk the 52% pro-independence vote and its 74 deputies.