It is not at all clear to me that cunning is a virtue, despite the fact that the protagonists of Catalan politics often boast of it. Hugues-Bernard Maret, an encyclopedist diplomat who was Napoleon’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, wrote that the great cunning of some often contrasts with the stupidity of others. A warning for surfers. The shrewd always thinks he is smarter than others, but shrewdness is not associated with intelligence or academic training. Of course, cunning is a natural gift that is based on knowledge of the environment.
But gimmicks are like close-up magic tricks: if they’re not done right, the audience discovers the trap and leaves the room. The latest trick of Carles Puigdemont, who someone has come to describe as the man of the master moves, even if some have been a disaster, is about to perpetrate his last act of conjuration: achieve the first defeat of the Spanish Government in Congress, with the refusal to support the three decrees that are part of Pedro Sánchez’s anti-crisis plan. He argues that they put the amnesty at risk, when it is not the case, and that they encroach on the competences of the Generalitat, which does not seem to be the case either. Above all, what Puigdemont wants to show is that he is in charge here, an expatriate in Belgium who does not even hold a position in his party.
Cunning can become a virtue in small doses, like some risk specifics. This challenge to the Executive will mean that the Central Government will receive a hard blow, and its inducer will not get off scot-free. You can’t agree and almost a minute later cause a crisis. And, between those two moments, let the world know that he flirted with Manfred Weber, the leader of the European conservatives, opening a loophole to future agreements with the right.
Santos Cerdán is wearing out his patience with the post-convergents, and Pedro Sánchez is fed up with so much gesticulation. All they have to do is negotiate until exhaustion, knowing that they will sweat blood. The Spanish president is aware of what the writer Ludwig Börne said: “Cunning is often annoying like a lamp in a bedroom.” Any day the lamp will manage to melt the leads.
