All political changes, even revolutions, have their times. As an example, more than three years pass between the storming of the Bastille in 1789 and the beheading of Louis XVI in January 1793, with the failed escape to Varennes in between. The same square where the guillotine was erected that ended the king’s life and the hereditary monarchy in one fell swoop had been Louis XV Square, with an equestrian statue of the previous monarch, Louis XVI’s grandfather, which was not demolished until 1792, when the square was called the Revolution and became the stage where more than one thousand French citizens were guillotined, among them the Capet, who had lost his title before losing the none
After the Terror, the square was renamed de la Concordia, a name it still retains and which traces a route that goes from revolution to order and which serves as a clear exercise in meditation.
This introduction comes on the heels of the Catalan elections just a week ago, which have come to confirm that the so-called process has ended up derailed, at least for a few years, along the lines of Quebec and Scotland. And now it seems that there is a desire to turn the page or even to change the book, but it is time to be patient, because we are again with another election on the horizon, the European ones, and because, given the parliamentary arithmetic that has Once the election results are drawn, it will not be easy to form a government.
Or maybe yes, because a broad and almost collective exercise of responsibility would be required after so much nonsense and so many wasted years. I’ll explain: Salvador Illa won the elections, that’s obvious, but we can’t forget that the abstention was higher than 40% of the electorate, so it’s not only necessary to reactivate Catalonia, it’s necessary to reconnect with the government and with the regional management and, therefore, with a calmer and closer policy.
For all this, I think that the most desirable thing will be a government led by Illa alone, even if this means having to negotiate with the different groups for each legislative project. Of course, it is necessary for the communes and ERC to support the formation of this government even if they do not get to enter it. And while what we now call Together (fine irony!) does not clarify between the two souls it has, the revolutionary and the orderly, the best alternative is what I have told you, also ratified by the current management of the deputations of Barcelona, ??Tarragona and Lleida, and for the foreseeable entry of ERC, if it does not decide to throw itself into the pool, in the government of Barcelona City Council. There is a lot of institution and a lot of governance and a lot of budget to negotiate.
In my opinion, the best thing about this possible solo government is that it allows the broad lines of action to be drawn up before being established and would certainly allow Illa to govern with faith, but without the need for dogma. The reverse, to put it quite clearly, of what is now happening to President Sánchez, who, largely forced by circumstances, is forced to impart doctrine and establish dogma.
Salvador Illa, who I think will end up presiding over the Generalitat, appears to be a man of faith, but not a dogmatist. And right now, someone who governs from the agreement and with at least a shared medium-term vision is very necessary. Catalonia has lost many trains, and not only from Rodalies. It’s time to get the machine back on track.
