A serious irresponsibility

The deadlock in the negotiations to form a government between JxCat and ERC, which was confirmed this Tuesday in a meeting in Parliament between both parties' negotiating teams, makes the possibility of a repeat election more likey. This is highly irresponsible taking into account the situation that the country is going through and poses a very serious risk for the sovereigntist majority. Voters are increasingly disappointed with parties, annoyed with a soap which is becoming increasingly difficult to explain and understand, even for journalists. It is incomprehensible that two parties that have shared a government since 2015 (first with CDC and then with JxCat) and that knew that there would be early elections over a year ago have been unable to agree on a coalition agreement. There is no excuse. No argument to justify it. And even more so when the third relevant party, CUP, previously considered an element of instability, was able to reach an agreement.

In fact, the government should have been agreed within a fortnight of 14 February, since it was and is urgent to put all the machinery of the Generalitat to work intensely towards the country's economic reconstruction, which has not yet emerged from the pandemic and is suffering a severe economic recession. Therefore, the first mistake is to have entered such a long negotiation. It was not responsible and can only be understood by the partisan interest to gain advantageous positions beyond the general interest. The second mistake was to propose a negotiation on the pro-independence strategy in the context of a pandemic and economic crisis at the cost of maintaining an interim government in office, as the diagnosis of the situation made by the two parties is so far apart that it should have been left for a later date. Such a deep strategic disagreement, which dates back to 2017, cannot be resolved in a few weeks. And thirdly, the negotiators have been unable to create the minimum climate of trust to build agreements. Jordi Sànchez's intervention last Friday, in which he stated that the agreement could be reached "in days", or Marta Vilalta's when she spoke of a "turning point" when the reality was different are good examples of double-speak, which feeds the public's confusion.

At this point, all that is needed is an appeal to the responsibility of all to avoid a repetition of the elections at the last minute. The country needs a government which is as strong as possible, and in this case the internal result within the sovereignist camp shows that it has to be headed by Pere Aragonès, the candidate who was, in number of votes and by one seat, ahead of the tandem formed by Carles Puigdemont and Laura Borràs. It is clear that ERC's gesture does not make things easy for JxCat, but it is also true that JxCat should honour Sànchez's commitment not to speculate with an electoral repetition and facilitate, if needed, a minority ERC government. A minority government is not the best option for the country nor for sovereignty, but it is preferable to new elections, which point to a record abstention rate. The reflection of the demand for responsibility is also valid for En Comú and PSC, despite the fact that the socialists are now the most interested in a repetition of the elections from which they hope to benefit the most. The lack of political restraint and responsibility in such a complicated moment as the current one feeds into citizens' disaffection and politics' discredit, and paves the way for populism.