End of the Court of Auditors nightmare

BarcelonaIf there is one part of the repression unleashed after 1-O by the Spanish state against the Catalan independence movement that was especially unjust and arbitrary, it is the one that pivoted around the Court of Auditors. This body, which had never acted decisively against any administration or party, acted imbued with such a spirit of revenge that it considered that all the foreign policy of the Generalitat from the year 2011, when Artur Mas came to power, until 2017 was in reality improper and illegal expenses of the 'Procés' that needed to be reimbursed. This meant, de facto, an economic penalty for about thirty Generalitat officials, among whom were Mas himself and former minister Andreu Mas-Colell, who were forced to present guarantees for the amounts demanded from each of them (out of a total of 5.4 million), and who have had to live the last decade with this sword of Damocles hanging over them.

This Wednesday, finally, the Court of Auditors has archived the case in compliance with the amnesty and has put an end to this nightmare. As the ruling establishes, the guarantees will be returned, as well as the 4 million euros from the solidarity fund that was collected and which prevented the accused from having to pay money out of their own pockets. However, this case will go down in history as a warning, as a heads-up to sailors of how the Spanish state functions when it feels threatened. Because here it was not just about seeking an exemplary punishment for the main leaders of the 'Procés', who went to prison or left for exile, but it was also pursuing the high and mid-level officials who had worked to spread the image of Catalonia to the world. People like Albert Royo, Antoni Molons, Amadeu Altafaj, and Aleix Villatoro can breathe easy today thanks to the fact that ERC and Junts facilitated the investiture of Pedro Sánchez in exchange for the amnesty.

But the fact that this nightmare ends today should not make us forget anything that has happened. What was sought was to send a very clear message to the effect that threatening the unity of the State would result in economic ruin. It does not matter that the entire procedure did not hold up at all. To give the reader an idea, among the expenses that the accused were forced to pay back were all the trips abroad that were made during that period, regardless of what their motivation was. It does not matter that the rest of the regional presidents also travel abroad normally and even have offices there, in the case of the Catalans they were suspicious because the government was pro-independence or, simply, was in favor of holding a referendum.

Among the pending subjects to regenerate the Spanish state, when the situation is favorable, there should be a deep reform of this body –which back in the day was already news due to the numerous cases of nepotism that existed– so that a political persecution like this cannot be repeated again.