Antoni Bassas's analysis: 'Mercosur, the farmers are right'
Regarding their complaint about the Mercosur treaty, the farmers are right to protest that products that couldn't be produced locally due to stricter health requirements can now be sold here. They are also right to say that their protest affects us all, because everyone needs to eat. The Catalan government now has its work cut out for it, because if the farmers don't back down, it will end with an intervention by the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police).
This week we will continue discussing funding, because on Wednesday Spanish Vice President Montero will present the model agreed upon with Esquerra Republicana in all the autonomous communities. It will be a formality, because the Spanish government holds a majority in this meeting.
By now everyone knows that the PP is against the system, because it's against it systematically—even though PP regional presidents say behind closed doors that they'd take the money right now—and Junts is the same, but for the opposite reasons, because they believe it's not enough. We said it from day one: the agreement means more money for Catalonia, but it doesn't solve the funding problems or the fiscal deficit.
Since the vice president presented the agreement last Friday, we've witnessed a battle for public opinion all weekend between Junts and Esquerra. Oriol Junqueras's line of defense is that the 4.7 billion euros, the end of advance payments, and the 55% of income tax revenue represent a first major step. But he insists it's only a step, that it must lead Catalonia to collect 100% of income tax and 78.5% of VAT, and that the agreement "works in concert" on this point. On Saturday, I wrote something in the newspaper that I'll repeat: President Pujol, with this agreement, would have taken a textbook "grab the money and run" approach. Esquerra is burdened with the problem of managing expectations: they claimed Catalonia was heading towards fiscal sovereignty, and for now, they've secured a favorable agreement within the common tax system.
Meanwhile, the problems of reality do not disappear, as these days we are being reminded by the farmers who are blocking roads.
Regarding his denunciation of the Mercosur treatyThe farmers are right when they exclaim how it's possible to sell products here that couldn't be produced here because of the stricter health requirements. And they're right when they say their protest affects us all, because everyone has to eat. The Catalan government is given work to do, because if the farmers don't back down, it will end with an intervention by the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police).
And an analysis of current events cannot ignore the world. In Iran, the deaths in the protests against the regime are counted in the hundreds. I say "are seen" because the information blackout is significant and it's not easy to get precise figures, but the economic and ideological discontent of millions of Iranians against the theocratic regime of the ayatollahs is very significant. A lack of freedom is bearable if there's bread, but with 70% inflation, the people revolt.
And Trump. Trump in a couple of images. Now, on the lapel of his jacket, Underneath the American flag, he wears a pin of itAside from his well-known self-absorption, Trump needs to distract us. He needs to distract us with a pin or with Maduro's arrest because we're not talking about Epstein, the anniversary of the Capitol storming, his unpopularity, or how the streets are militarized with his police literally hunting down immigrants.
Our correspondent explains it today on this page, which shows a border patrol officer demanding that a man pumping gas prove he has papers.
This police force, called ICE, has permission to make arrests based on appearance. —in the sense that if its members see that you are not white they can assault you without having to justify it—, and it also begins to act as political police, as we have seen in the cold-blooded murder of Renee Good—a woman who was stopped at a checkpoint in Minneapolis—which they justified by saying that she wanted to attack them.
That's why today we've dedicated time to the topic our central poster, the Miradeswhere you see traffic checkpoints, families being arrested in their homes, and police officers going up and down streets, all photographed by citizens. This is a regime of fear. Trump has created a parallel police force, reinforced it with thousands of officers, and it already has a clearly defined profile. patriotic policeTrumpist, who knows if this is the first step towards an armed confrontation with other American armed forces. These are dark times. Let's not lose sight of that when we judge the reality around us.
Good morning.
