Montoro's unbearable arrogance

The appearance this Monday of former Finance Minister Cristóbal Montoro The investigation into Operation Catalunya, currently being conducted in Congress, has once again revealed the moral baseness of the members of that government, who not only used state mechanisms to persecute political adversaries but also, almost a decade later, allow themselves to launch unfounded accusations against the Catalan political class in general and behave with obvious arrogance. "In Catalonia, you can't afford public services, but there are politicians who shouldn't worry because they have abundant accounts, worth millions of euros, in the neighboring country. In Andorra," Montoro initially said. And when ERC MP Pilar Vallugera pressed him on the ropes to name someone other than Jordi Pujol, Montoro backtracked and eventually reversed himself.

But evidently, the message had already been sent, and it coincides perfectly with the main objective of Operation Catalunya: to discredit in the public eye the Catalan politicians who were at the helm of the institutions at the time and who advocated holding a self-determination referendum. So, in reality, with his statement, Montoro has merely confirmed what everyone suspected. In fact, even while he was a minister, Montoro made insinuations from the floor of Congress that he knew the tax details of everyone present, accusing him of leaking files for political reasons.

At another point in his statement, the former minister tried to make it seem as though he was unaware of the false UDEF report accusing Artur Mas and Xavier Trias of having money in Switzerland, even though there is a video from 2012 in which, as Minister of Finance, he gives it complete credibility and commands. A third surreal moment was when Montoro attributed the need for the FLA to the management of tripartite governments, when the drop in revenue was general in all the autonomous communities due to the global financial crisis, and Catalonia's indebtedness is an endemic issue due to underfunding.

In short, Montoro's appearance once again highlighted his obsession with Catalonia and the PP's patrimonial conception of power, in the sense that when it is in government it believes it can use all the levers of the State for its own benefit, even if it is illegal. That's why it's frustrating, however, that there's no serious judicial investigation into Operation Catalunya and all its ramifications. Meanwhile, Catalan citizens must endure figures like Mariano Rajoy, María Dolores de Cospedal, Alicia Sánchez-Camacho, and now Cristóbal Montoro behaving with total impunity in Congress and still allowing themselves the luxury of scolding or belittling the deputies who question them.

We hope that the commission's report of conclusions can serve as the basis for legal action that will clarify once and for all what Operation Catalunya consisted of and who were the actors in it, which surely existed.