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# taz.de -- Spotlight Populism: Script writer needed
> Nationalisms in Spain – powerful, bloody till recently and one of the
> most complex issues for the central government.
Bild: People gather with „estelada“ or pro-independence flags
Southern European countries are struggling to cope with painfull
consequences brought by recession and the euro crisis and, one of them,
Spain, has got to deal also with another issue: domestic nationalisms. As
deep rooted historic phenomena Basque and Catalonian nationalisms are there
for good. It is worthwhile reading the essay “España invertebrada“ written
by the thinker José Ortega y Gasset in 1920; he maintains that,
historically, when the central power has endorsed challenging and ambitious
plans for the whole country Basques and Catalunians have made their best of
it.
Partly, as the expression of the social malaise caused by the crisis, there
is a new party in Spain, a left leaning one, called Podemos, which has
dramatically eroded the electoral performance of the Socialist Party ( PSOE
).
So much so that PSOE (Partido Socialista Obrero Español or Spanish
Socialist Workers Party) has got the smallest number of deputies ever in
the Spanish Parliament in two consecutive general elections. In the
political wrangling that followed PSOE has seen its Secretary General being
sacked and the majority of its deputies abstaining in parliament enabling
the conservative Partido Popular, the party that won the elections, to form
a minority government.
PODEMOS smothered its political stance around European issues as the two
election campaigns developed. Although the economic criteria set by
Brussels has been at the center of bitter debates, against all odds, Spain
has not seen the rise of any far right, anti- European party.
But we do have an anti- European, anti-system party, it is called CUP or
Candidatura de Unidad Popular (Candidature of Popular Unity) that has come
to the forefront of Catalonian politics with the latest bid for
Independence launched by its regional Government.
CUP would propose leaving both the EU and NATO in case Catalunya would
secede from Spain. The Catalonian Autonomic Government needs CUP because it
lacks the necessary parliamentary backing to pass laws, among them next
years’ budgetary law.
The most deeply disturbing fact in the current maneuver of the Catalonian
government in its bid for independence is the following: in the last
Catalonian general elections held in September 2015, the percentage of
votes that went to pro-independence parties was 47,7% while parties that
are not for secession got 51,7%. Parliamentary arithmetics enabled the
formation of a minority pro-independece government whose external life-line
is the mentioned CUP.
The Catalonian Government is committed to make what it takes to form a new
state, or so it says. Questions related to the finances of the Autonomic
Communities are at stake in the Catalonian issue. The Catalonian Autonomic
Government, or Generalitat, pleads for changes in the finance system that
deems detrimental for them. Seemingly, any such change would require a
reform of the 1978 Constitution. Neither sheer denial from Madrid nor
unilateral secessionist moves from Barcelona are going to be useful.
Dialogue would have to prevail.
The issue is thorny and requires lots of energy and political intelligence
to solve it. The central government headed by the conservative Mariano
Rajoy would have to turn necessity into virtue to tackle it.
Unlike what is happening in Catalunya with the mainstream nationalists, the
Basque Nationalist Party, PNV, having won elections although not with the
necessary lead to form a government of its own, has chosen the Basque
Socialist Party as the coalition partner. The two parties, with different
ideological mindsets, sharing power has been seen as an encouraging event;
an opposite example to feud- politics.
As Ortega y Gasset would say for Spain, there can be said for the EU, it is
necessary to, carefully, listen to partners, to be aware of their
expectations and dreams, thus, to be able to make proposals, bold enough,
to seduce them to play a role that nobody else could play instead. The play
would be the United States of Europe. An outstanding script writer is
needed.
Ana Aizpiri is journalist for the main channels of Basque Radio and
Television. Specialist on Arab and Islamic affairs; studied in Egypt and at
the School of Translators of Toledo.
26 Jul 2017
## AUTOREN
Ana Aizpiri
## TAGS
Spotlight Populism in Europe
taz international
taz in English
Populismus
Katalonien
Baskenland
taz in English
USA
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