Editor
Catalan politics has left behind “el procés” (the method), the decade-long institutional and social motion that sought the unilateral secession of Catalonia outdoors current authorized channels. This was a political motion that positioned monumental stress on the establishments of Catalan self-government, divided its society, affected its financial system and precipitated critical private hurt to its leaders. It was a motion displaying the detrimental referendum logic seen throughout rather a lot the Western world over the past decade.
But Catalans themselves have now determined to finish the nationalist/independence majority of their parliament — and we intend to take heed to them.
After successful May’s regional elections with a majority of the votes (28 %), the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC-PSOE) struck offers with the pro-independence progressives of the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) and the left-wing Sumar celebration, acquiring the mandatory votes to realize an absolute majority within the parliament and make Salvador Illa president of the Generalitat.
So, as we return to authorities after 14 years in opposition, we are going to now have to barter and articulate progressive majorities that overcome the divisions of latest Catalan politics. And thus far, it appears Illa has been in a position to break by means of the entrenched polarization to determine new shared targets for Catalonia’s self-government and monetary autonomy.
Garnering consideration in the course of the first years of the Covid-19 pandemic as Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s minister of well being, Illa’s solvent, sober and tenacious perspective has been rewarded by the Catalan voters at a time of uncertainty and profound change. We consider the return of the Socialists to the Catalan authorities is a victory for constructive politics that builds bridges — in addition to an endorsement of Sánchez’s bold coverage for Catalonia.
The independence motion continues to be related, in fact. But it constitutes a minority in Catalan society, and as we speak, it’s extra divided than ever, with no clear roadmap past the everlasting self-dramatization of a few of its protagonists.
