Antoni Bassas' analysis: 'Blackout, presidents, blame, and cynicism'

We are still in the aftermath of the great blackout, and it is time for some reflections. The first, about the cCommunication from the Government of Catalonia and the Spanish GovernmentPresident Illa:

"The President of Catalonia and the entire Government have been on the front line. Working rigorously and providing information once it has been verified and contrasted. This is what the Government of Catalonia has done. And this is what the Government of Catalonia will continue to do, and this is what everyone should do."

"We're not going to move from this path. We'll work hard to ensure we respond effectively to the issues."

Look, it's not just a problem of information, or of making four or fourteen appearances, or of being in the office. It would be a shame if they weren't on top of the problem. Information and communication are not the same. Communication will represent the office of president with practical effectiveness, institutional authority, and human proximity. And it will mean understanding the state of the society a president addresses. And we've been affected since the pandemic. We have a war in Europe, they've suggested we buy a kit to survive three days and Sánchez himself has announced a increase in military spending of more than 10 billion.

So, if the power goes out across the entire Iberian Peninsula, how do you think we're doing? Do you think it won't have an impact, losing connection with the world? Should Sánchez appear at 6 p.m.? And Illa at 8:30 p.m., when Sánchez has already spoken? That's not the case. And in both cases, not to say much?

When we're facing an unprecedented crisis, a president must understand that we need a credible explanation that doesn't force us into the always dangerous exercise of reading between the lines. And if he still can't provide an explanation, he must reassure us that everything that depends on the government will be fine and invite us to turn the crisis into a moment of mutual aid, with a mix of practical guidance and collective resolve.

I Feijóo would do well to think for a moment about what he says. And perhaps he would remain silent. Who is Feijóo to criticize Sánchez's crisis communication, he who puts up with a president like Mazón, a negligent manager of a crisis that has cost hundreds of lives? Who had the cynicism to justify that yesterday He would not meet Feijóo in Valencia with the false excuse That he was dealing with the power outages? Since when has Mazón been dealing with people's problems? And besides, the European People's Party convention is being held in Valencia, the scene of some of the greatest corruption cases in the populace.

Regarding the blackout, if having a new, clean source of energy like renewables is going to be a problem for the sustainability of the electricity distribution system, it means the system needs to be rethought, because solar, wind, and self-consumption are here to stay. And taking advantage of the blackout to wage an ideological battle over whether to go nuclear or not is pitiful.

One last note. There was no chaos on Monday. Because the blackout occurred during the day, because in April it's not that cold or that hot anymore, because we're in the developed world and the vast majority have half a brain. There was no chaos, except for the commuter trains, of course. It's not that the trains weren't there, it's that they even had trouble getting their money back. Service took two days to recover. In Madrid, it took one day. Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat (Catalan Railways), no problem. Why? Because they learned a lesson when the snowfall of 2001 hit. And they rebuilt the network into a mesh, so each Ferrocarrils electrical substation has two separate connections, receiving power from two different sources, so if one fails, the other comes in. The 25,000-kilowatt substations are interconnected, and if one fails, they can switch to another.

One last note: technological progress has made our lives much more comfortable. But we are not omnipotent. Life is fragile by definition. Let us not forget that.

Good morning.