A national demonstration that needs Europe’s support

The demonstration held yesterday in Amposta was a success on many levels. First, for the ability of Catalonia’s Platform in Defense of the Ebro (whose slogan was "We always come up to Barcelona, now you come down here") to gather together 50,000 people, according to the local authorities. It was the largest demonstration ever held in the Terres de l'Ebre (Ebro Lands) region, which was flooded yesterday with people from all over Catalonia who saw firsthand the reason for the demands. The platform was not alone this time, and this was another reason for its success. It garnered the support of organizations such as the ANC and Òmnium (the main grassroots pro-independence groups), who understand that the defense of the Ebro's flow volume goes beyond environmental demands and also affects the way we want to run our country.

Yesterday the Platform’s blue t-shirts (with a knot pictured on it) shared the spotlight with "estelades" (Catalan separatist flags), thus broadening the scope of the demonstration, which also enjoyed the open support of the Catalan government --three Catalan ministers attended the march--, the president of the Parliament, and representatives of almost all Catalan political forces. Not in attendance were Ciudadanos and, more logically, the PP, a party that when in power in the Spanish government has always been characterized by its desire to legislate against the territory, without dialogue and by reducing the water flow that reaches the Ebro Delta down to unsustainable minimums.

The PP tried it with the National Hydrological Plan, which was successfully defeated, and now they are trying again with the plan for the Ebro basin, which establishes a flow of 3,000 hm in the final stretch --less than half of what experts and the Catalan government have argued for.

Yesterday's image of unity is unlikely to have any effect on the acting government of Spain, which is accustomed to minimizing Catalan demonstrations. But perhaps it will be viewed with more attention by the European Commission. Six MEPs will visit the Delta today, and the demonstrators' demands for support are directed at them. Only Europe, which has already expressed doubts about the current plan, could pressure whoever ends up as the governing party in Spain to back off from this plan.