A new mass rally of some 10,000 people; a new example of civility, on this occasion outside the European Parliament in Strasbourg; a peaceful claim demanding respect to Carles Puigdemont, Oriol Junqueras and Toni Comín's political rights as MEP-elects of the Chamber, who have been unable to access this role due to the Spanish government; and a cold, icy response from the European institutions to the Catalan claims, which are not being heard through the thick walls member states have built around them. Precautionary measures dismissed by Luxembourg EU Court of Justice (CJEU) to enable exiles taking their seats, and aware of the presence of Spanish police in Strasbourg to intimidate Puigdemont and Comín -or who knows if even more than shrinking them-, the day was basically one of protest and public denouncement on a specially symbolic occasion. The protesters responded to a request by the organisers, but that, at this stage, is no news.
It is possible that the pro-independence movement keeps its mobilisation capabilities untouched and enough to star feats as the one in Strasbourg. That 10,000 people responded and travelled on a working day in July confirms this. However, the absence of sound political leadership back in Catalonia is all too evident, taking for instance the current Catalan government itself, which is just in transit in the midst of a worrying mediocrity, in the absence of a roadmap shared by pro-independence's various parties and civil society entities. Not even a hint of a cohesive government, an executive capable of getting a stable majority in Parliament that enables them to pass laws or approve the national budget, a circumstance that has not happened since 2017.
Obviously, the Catalan government is not guilty of it all, even if that is what can once and again be heard from the Opposition. The destruction left by Article 155 -abolition of self-government with Madrid's direct rule-, the existence of exiles and political prisoners, the political and financial choking imposed from Madrid and the Opposition's intolerance to reach agreements even when they are in their manifestos, they all are a heavy burden in the everyday management of the Catalan administration. The need to 'work on political solutions' is an increasingly strong call from all actors, even when nobody knows for certain what that means, yet identified as the exact opposite to what is taking place just now.
July should help to redefine the skeleton of the pro-independence agreement which cannot be postponed any longer. Because, anyway you want to look at it, people, Catalan organised civil society, cannot be the only credit of the Process