Listening to Alberto Núñez Feijóo yesterday in Brussels, I have the feeling that the PP still does not understand or want to understand the problem of Catalonia well. Even the Cercle d’Economia, which I understand is not a far-left Maoist organization, advocates the opportunity of amnesty “to improve the climate of coexistence in Catalonia and to advance the normalization of the country.” The PP can criticize, as the Cercle note does, that these grace measures should not only obey a partisan calculation or it could also have a more open attitude and ask to be heard in this negotiation. But no, the popular ones have opted for the path of radical opposition with demonstrations, motions in various institutions and the announcement of judicial appeals when the measure is applied, if one day it ends up being approved.
The same thing happens with the use of Catalan in Europe. It is no coincidence that the five countries that have shown reluctance to this step are Latvia, Lithuania, Italy, Sweden and Finland, with right-wing formations and links to the European People’s Party. Their arguments are that this is a minor issue at such an important time for the EU and they agree that they are the same as those used by Feijóo. The more insistence Carles Puigdemont puts on saying that there will be no investiture if the use of Catalan in Europe is not resolved, the more effort the PP puts into trying to stop it.
This short-term strategy distances him precisely from nationalist formations such as Junts or the PNV, with whom one day he should come to an understanding. It is possible that the PP wants to do without them and feels capable of governing Spain with an absolute majority or with the support of Vox. If so, Castile is broad and can continue to describe the amnesty as “illegal, a democratic aberration and moral indecency.” However, if the PP wants to grow in votes in Catalonia and one day be able to count on the support of more moderate nationalism, it should stop and think about whether the way of approaching the Catalan problem is the most appropriate. You can be against the amnesty, of course, but the way of expressing this opposition distances the PP from the most central positions in the country. And if not, let Feijóo read the Cercle note.
