The great battle is intensifying. All the polls were predicting a pro-independence majority in the upcoming Catalan elections and the Spanish state had no choice but to go on the offensive to prevent that, employing methods so clumsy that they clarify the situation even more. The elections, whenever they are held, will be all or nothing for Catalonia. And for Spain. Even Vox leader Javier Ortega Smith has acknowledged this, with his readiness to support the investiture of the Catalan Socialist (PSC) candidate, Salvador Illa, to prevent the pro-independence parties from winning power again.
When the state is willing to endanger the lives of the citizens it is obliged to protect, that state loses its legitimacy and its 'raison d'être'
The Spanish judiciary has stepped up and is claiming its role as the essential bulwark that must hold the state together. "The unity of the Spanish nation is a direct mandate to the judges," was the declaration, in the form of an instruction, made by the president of the General Council of the Judiciary and the Supreme Court, Carlos Lesmes, before the king, at the height of the independence process, and the judicial bunker is acting in consequence. Indeed, the main goal of any state, and therefore of its institutions, is to always maintain its territorial integrity. However, more fundamentally, the main reason for a state is to ensure the safety - the lives - of its citizens. Thus, when in order to maintain its integrity it is willing to endanger the lives of its citizens, of all the citizens it is obliged to protect, the state loses its legitimacy and its raison d'être.
The judges mark out their own strategy, of combating the Catalan independence movement based on the systematic destabilization not only of the government of Catalonia, but also of Catalan society as a whole, as a kind of blackmail on the public so that they will give up their aspirations and accept political defeat. They are not content with ousting presidents, savaging prisoners sadistically, persecuting political leaders and social activists. As well, they reject the initiatives of the Catalan government and of local mayors aimed at dealing with the Covid pandemic or at managing anything else of interest to the people. And now they want the election to be a disaster. Note that, despite all the political controversy, no parliamentary party, not even the PSC, was prepared to get its hands dirty by challenging the government's decree postponing the elections, because of what it could lead to.
If, as the experts predict, the pandemic is about to accelerate, and Sánchez and Illa have done nothing to prevent it, they will not be remembered for their good government, and not for their political honesty either
We are facing an authentic sabotage of the Catalan institutions. There is no law that gives the judges the power to set an election date, but neither does there exist the counter-balancing power that a democracy needs to oppose the arbitrariness of judges who are permitted to interpret, subjectively and without any legal basis, the popular will with regard to the election day (“there is a very strong public interest in the holding of the elections”) or the degree of political provisionality (“if the elections are not held, a prolonged period of provisionality opens which affects the normal functioning of democratic institutions”) - in any case, it is a provisionality brought about by the rulings of the very same court, and whether they like it or not, it has been resolved in accordance with the constitutional and statutory provisions. It is obvious that the day after the elections, the "provisionality" and uncertainty will be more pronounced than it is now, with the need to constitute a new government and a new administration in the midst of a pandemic.
The strategy of the judicial bunker goes beyond the unionist parties. The judicial interference, and the electoral interests of the Catalan Socialists and the minister-candidate Salvador Illa, however much they may coincide, are not part of the same conspiracy. Judges (like the military) have shown clearly enough their animosity at the presence of Unidas Podemos in the Spanish government, which they continually challenge. In order not to take responsibility for the epidemiological effects which may occur as a result of forcing the elections to be held on February 14th, the TSJC judges have passed the buck to the health minister. They have stated that if more restrictive measures have to be taken to justify the postponement of the election, it is up to the Spanish central government, that is, the Spanish minister of health, to take the appropriate decisions. Given that epidemiologists, infectologists and all health experts have unanimously recommended the postponement of the election, the responsibility of the minister Illa and the Sánchez government is enormous, because it affects Catalonia and all of Spain. If I were Socialist strategist Iván Redondo I would advise Illa to toughen the restrictions and present it as a personal sacrifice to prove that he is not acting out of electoral interest. It would bring better returns. On the other hand, if, as the experts predict, the pandemic is about to accelerate, and Sánchez and Illa have done nothing to prevent it, they will not be remembered for their good government, and not for their political honesty either.