New alarm (and anger) in the Madrid newspapers. Carles Puigdemont's proposal of Quim Torra as the new candidate for president of Catalonia hasn't satisfied them either. Today, they're full of criticism and disapproval towards the president's nominee.
So, despite being visibly satisfied it has proved impossible to invest Puigdemont, they give the new candidate a warning that the state will continue working for the law to be followed and, if that doesn't happen, it will continue acting as until now.
The most curious thing is that some of the newspapers even argue that Torra started the independence process, thanks to comments he made in 2014, pushing them to an even more resounding rejection of the candidate.
For all these reasons, they warn that it is unlikely, for the moment, that the PP government in Madrid will lift article 155 of the Spanish Constitution because, they say, everything suggests the situation in Catalonia will continue in the same vein.
Xenophobic obsession
La Razón, under the headline "a puppet for confrontation", attacks Puigdemont's decision as being "awful news for the future political and institutional stability of the Principality" and, moreover, despite him not being pursued by the justice system, they believe that the "choice shows the desire of Catalan separatism to maintain the confrontation with the state".
Using a handful of 2012 tweets from Torra, which included derogatory allusions to "the Spanish", the paper says that the candidacy "takes us to the worst examples of the fanaticism and radicalism of the independence movement, bordering on xenophobic obsession, which, unfortunately, have caused the painful social fracture in the region itself".
They believe, the "political role he will doubtless be called upon to play" will be one of "subordination to Puigdemont". Moreover, they suggest that it is "a provisional solution which can only hide the piratical intention of putting an end to the legislature when convenient for the personal interests of the fled leader" and urge readers to "not forget his black criminal outlook".
In fact, their front page opens with the headline "Puigdemont anoints 'puppet' Torra to repeat elections", but, at the same time, they argue that "Puigdemont aims, like anyone handling a puppet, to maintain the fiction of a government in exile which, moreover, and this is the most absurd, governs the fates of Catalonia".
But their frustration goes even further, criticising that his candidacy "means shutting the door on and scorning the offers of dialogue and collaboration from the [Spanish] prime minister, Mariano Rajoy" and, worse still, they even get into his "psychological profile".
At the end of the editorial, they do appear slightly relieved, due to the impossibility of investing Puigdemont. This shows, they say, that "the rule of law and respect for the constitutional order have returned to the region". They, however, warn that "the state will continue to safeguard the rights and interests of all Catalans. Of that we do have reasons to be sure".
Radical puppet
El Español, which suggests that "Puigdemont is putting up a puppet so that Rajoy deceives himself", defines Torra as a "radical" who "believes that Catalonia has been a country occupied by the Spanish since 1714". They believe his election will mean that "the problem of independence is not only not going to fall away, but will doubtlessly earn a new, folkloric momentum".
But they go further still. They define the candidate as a "hand-picked choice of a banana-republic caudillo" and say that "the Catalan anomaly keeps growing unstoppably". For them, this is "another provocation which confirms the erroneous policy" of Mariano Rajoy's government. Caudillo, a word for "leader" normally used for strongmen, was the title the dictator Franco took for himself.
At this point, they turn to attacking the PP executive. "Puigdemont is showing his strength whilst Rajoy gives unequivocal signs of certain weakness" and "Rajoy's ability to deceive himself appears to have no limit".
At the end of the article, they link Torra with the start of the independence process for statements he made in 2014 when director of Born Cultural Centre. That year, he organised events to "commemorate and manipulate the tricentennial of 1714", which saw the fall of Barcelona and the end of the War of the Spanish Succession. He said that since that time, Catalans "have been living under occupation". "It was around this display, which pontificated on the Spanish invasion, that the current separatist process gestated".
They also side with Cs' leader, Albert Rivera, supporting him in his call for a harder line to be taken with Catalonia. Precisely for that reason, they say "it's more than probable that after this new nonsense he will increase if possible his pressure on the executive to continue and toughen up as necessary an [article] 155 which so far, it's obvious, hasn't achieved the aims it should have pursued".
Continuing the duel
Like the other two papers, El Mundo opens its front page with the nomination of Torra who, like the rest, they see as a "puppet for [Puigdemont] to continue with his rebellion" and "continue the duel", "aware that the continuation of the conflict with the state is the only trump card which is still saving him from irrelevance".
Describing Torra as a "separatist of certified fanaticism" and "Puigdemont's alter ego, as radical as him", they attack the legitimate president for "aiming with this choice to settle a puppet in the presidency of Catalonia, a figure who can be controlled at a distance, who meekly submits to the will of the unrepentant fugitive in Berlin".
With all these arguments under their arm, the paper says that Torra's candidacy "raises serious doubts about the advisability of lifting [article] 155; after a foreseeable government completely remote-controlled by Puigdemont, who yesterday passed on the mandate to implement the republic declared in October".
In another article, El Mundo defines Torra as the "most hooligan option" and, like La Razón, uses his 2012 tweets for further attacks against him.
Born substitute
For El País, which didn't dedicate either its whole front page nor editorial to the question, Torra, who has had a "meteoric political career" and "exquisite manners in person", warn that, despite this, he has "strong pro-independence convictions", which, as they see it, "turns him into almost a professional substitute; almost against his will".
In fact, they repeat this point on various occasions during their profile of the candidate: "those who know him talk about an educated personality, with a hint of something British about him, and that he knows how to listen, even though he's intransigent when it comes to his pro-independence convictions".
In another article, they say that "although Torra is part of Puigdemont's trusted inner circle, he will lead a group of ministers which he hasn't chosen".
Front man
ABC, for their part, call Torra a "front man" because, in their opinion, "the ex-president is resisting disappearing and has designated one of his faithful, a radical independence supporter", although they argue that "there's no doubt that political reality will end up cornering the ex-president". In fact, one of their greatest worries is "how many weeks or months it will take for that to happen".
Meanwhile, they also express lament that "with the will of the pro-independence parties hijacked by the stubbornness of the fugitive ex-president in not disappearing politically, the theoretical and apparent return to normality of political life which should be starting up is holding off".
In another article, they define him as the "real deal of the independence movement". None of the newspapers mentioned above liked the proposal, certain that "the disobedience is going to continue". It would be interesting to see what they would have said for some other candidate, as the same arguments go for almost any other JxCat deputy.