If Tarradellas saw it

The regional financing agreement was signed by the PSOE, a party in crisis, and ERC, a party recovering (at least). Interestingly, sometimes a sum of weaknesses yields better results than a sum of strengths. It is not generosity, but necessity, that has allowed them to agree on a series of things that, just a year ago, Minister Montero considered impossible and unconstitutional. Ordinality ad hoc For Catalonia, the extra contribution from the State so that what some gain doesn't cost others, the oxymoron of plural singularity... and what ERC still hopes to obtain: comprehensive management of personal income tax and an investment consortium that retains in Catalonia all the funds not spent in the budget. It's a promising list, but it falls short of what the PSC agreed to in order to secure the votes to invest Isla, and furthermore, the path now beginning will be a true ordeal: Pedro Sánchez will have to defend that agreement against Junts, perhaps against Podemos, against the PP and Vox, against his own party. malesAnd it will do so without María Jesús Montero, offered up as a sacrifice on the altar of the Andalusian elections. We'll see what's left of it all. The clock is ticking.

The worst thing about the pact, precisely, is that it's based on current circumstances and haste. Junqueras has chosen pragmatism given the—reasonable—prospect that in a year and a half the PP and Vox could be in power, and then there will be nothing left to discuss. Sánchez has given in, in part, because he wants to hold on at all costs until 2027, and because he needs to strengthen Salvador Illa's government, his key territorial stronghold. In terms of statesmanship, the old adage is confirmed: Spain only turns on the tap when someone forces it to. Why this stinginess? The Catalan government ministers are very happy with the extra money they'll have to spend, but the PSC wouldn't have lifted a finger if it didn't depend on the votes of ERC (or Junts, depending on the case). Without Catalanism – that is, without parties not linked to Spanish parties – we would not have the tools to prevent, or alleviate, that feeling of being a cash cow that Spain milks at will, while those who benefit the most accuse us of being thieves and lacking solidarity.

Now, from a Spanish perspective, which is obviously not mine, some criticisms are understandable: agreeing to a system that affects seventeen autonomous communities, including Madrid, with only one is anomalous. Many miss a sense of national unity, of course. But do they expect Ayuso to provide it? Spain is too divided to even consider national policies. So, the government survives as best it can. Ordinality is only applied in Catalonia because the PSOE needs the votes of the Catalan separatists. And the central government compensates Andalusia with extra money because the Andalusian elections are coming up. Everything is more tactical than technical; therefore, everything is frivolous. And fragile.

This is a problem for those whose vital interest is saving or bringing order to Spain, like the socialists. But as their admired Josep Tarradellas said: "You can't govern a country with seventeen governments, seventeen parliaments, and seventeen flags..." Nor can you administer a country well with seventeen singularities. The distribution of public spending is a nightmare in a country that has embarked on a path of distorted federalism, one that contradicts the centralist inertia of the state apparatus and has perpetuated anomalies such as the Basque exception, Madrid's monopoly on resources, and the perpetual subsidies for the southern regions. But in Catalonia, until we are ready for something more, this is what we will have to endure. And in the meantime, ERC and Junts will be responsible for exercising the differentiating factor Catalan, which the laws don't recognize but reality does. I hope that one day they'll tire of engaging in this exercise in open competition.