The Spanish State: acting as one

Editor-in-chiefThe Spanish Constitutional Court met on Saturday for six hours, with its judges on the ropes. Still, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba —one of the craftiest and most disturbing politicians in Spain’s deep state apparatus— had said that “the State will pay the price of getting rid of Puigdemont”. His words will go down in history and will help to explain the events of recent years. To be precise, they will help us to understand how the Spanish State —in its broadest possible sense— colluded to preserve the status quo, no matter the cost, and how democracy’s very foundations and the rule of law have been gambled with for the sake of Spain’s unity. Rubalcaba’s statement is a monument to the political cynicism that has led us where we stand today, and it shows that the Catalan pro-independence bloc failed to accurately gauge the powers of the State. Furthermore, the former PSOE leader hinted at a communion of interests when he added that “the secessionists would like the Spanish government to rid them of Puigdemont”. For years they downplayed the effects on Catalonia of what former Catalan president José Montilla called “disaffection”, and Madrid’s circles of power busied themselves with gossip before it was time to save the crown from King Juan Carlos’ farcical exploits. After years when Spain’s political class was focused on mutual destruction and using Podemos to lash out at each other, after years of blatant corruption, now “the State will pay the price of getting rid of Puigdemont”. In other words, they will try to prevent the one presidential candidate that has the majority backing in the Catalan chamber from being voted in. If the institutional edifice must be degraded, it will be for a higher purpose: preserving the unity of Spain. If that makes the State’s political, judicial and media collusion even more glaring, so be it.

Speaking from its ashes, El País has argued that “the Spanish government has the right and the duty to prevent Puigdemont from becoming the next president of Catalonia, even if it means paying a high political price”. And on the Council of State’s decision, the Madrid daily notes that “its indifference is surprising in today’s exceptional political context”. That is to say, above and beyond any legal —and, clearly, journalistic— arguments, Spain’s nationalism must stand patriotically united behind the PP government’s every decision. Why? The Spanish government’s decisions, which are at odds with PM Rajoy’s words only a day earlier, are not alien to the Crown. To spare the Spanish monarch the trouble of having to formally sanction Puigdemont’s appointment as president, it is avoided preventatively. Rubalcaba spoke about the king’s “outstanding” performance in the Catalan crisis: “he did the right thing —and what some of us thought— when he explained to the Spanish people that the State and its rules could not be disregarded and that the law must be upheld”.

On Saturday the Spanish press printed flattering special features on occasion of the King’s 50th birthday. Painting a glossy picture of the Spanish monarch’s private life was the cherry on the cake after a week when King Felipe saw his image boosted with his trip to Davos representing Spain in lieu of the Spanish primer minister. While in Davos, he stated that “they have attempted to undermine the basic rules of Spain’s democratic system” in Catalonia and he spoke in favour of the holy “Constitution, the pillar of democratic coexistence”.

YES, BUT IN PERSON

The PP’s determination to resort to the Constitutional Court in order to prevent Puigdemont from being elected president —after he was challenged to run in the December elections by that same government— has given us an amalgamated decision which would seem to leave him a way out, but only apparently. Puigdemont may become president, provided he is present in the Catalan chamber when the vote is held. Now the question is whether he can persuade Spain’s Supreme Court to grant him permission to attend the parliamentary session rather than arrest him as soon as he sets foot in Catalonia. And that is a decision for the same judge who has ordered four Catalan political prisoners to be kept in jail.

“The eagle has landed”, if we are to believe the social networks, brimming with humorous, hopeful messages for Puigdemont’s return on the back of his cunning, a record proven when the ballot boxes appeared seemingly out of nowhere on the day of the independence referendum. But the Spanish police efforts, with multiple checkpoints, make it almost impossible. Puigdemont’s own attorney has advised him to return to Catalonia only once he has the assurance that he will not be imprisoned.

In the meantime, four political prisoners are still on remand awaiting trial because of their views. As every Saturday, Joaquim Forn was allowed to see some friends for forty minutes. He was strong and collected. He explained that in ward 7, where inmates are expected to adhere to a certain “etiquette” and exhibit good conduct despite having major criminal records and long prison sentences, they hold a general meeting on Saturdays to sort out their own issues and avoid the prison guards from getting involved. One of the items for discussion: “to stop banging the cell door every time Barça scores a goal”. Life goes on. The Spanish State is acting as one.