Sink like stones

The shield of the Generalitat was the only symbol that framed the handshake between the president Illa and the president Puigdemont. The recognition of the institution, restored after the suspension of autonomy, by the leaders of the PSC and Junts per Catalunya is good news. The coat of arms and two sad ficus trees, no flag so as not to irritate anyone.

After the events of 2017, the Generalitat was questioned by the most rigorous Spanish and independentist parties. The PSC supported the suspension of autonomy, and the former president himself president Torra described the institution as "an obstacle to independence," as if it were a government agency. Today, no one doubts that the Generalitat (Catalan government) is the country's greatest instrument for defending the country, and this is no minor issue.

The meeting between Illa and Puigdemont is good news for those who want to engage in politics and for citizens, who see how the world is changing profoundly and rapidly without waiting for anyone. And no one is anyone, as their French neighbors, immersed in an unresolvable economic and political crisis, are beginning to learn. The atmosphere is tense in a Europe where the far right is advancing, the United States is acting arbitrarily in the commercial sphere, destabilizing international trade, aging and immigration are changing society, artificial intelligence will impact the labor market, and the welfare state is difficult to sustain. The poor results in schools and the strains on healthcare, when more money than ever is being invested, are the most visible signs that the seams of the social protection system are about to burst.

For Puigdemont, the Brussels meeting is the recognition he demanded, the political amnesty he was demanding while he remains in exile. For Illa, it is a necessary but not sufficient condition to explore agreements that would allow the survival of Pedro Sánchez's government, and internally, Puigdemont's recognition that the president of the Generalitat is now socialist and has full institutional authority.

For the socialists, the photograph helps to deflate the Puigdemont effect, but its political capital will not be known until the amnesty is complete and the former president is elected. president return to Catalonia. Puigdemont's return with honors is not a detail of protocol; it will be the definitive closure of an era marked by uncertainty, provisionality, and an emotional, undisputed leadership fueled by the injustice of repression.

Meanwhile, Junts per Catalunya is wrong to postpone the challenge of reconstruction. A party that was born out of urgency and Puigdemont's personal hegemony today clearly needs a human and political recapitalization. It is not just a matter of reorganizing the acronyms, but of providing them with content, a narrative, and leadership that go beyond the permanent memory of the past and the failure of the 2017 project.

In this context, the departure of the former president from the party and from Parliament counselor The Economics Minister, Jaume Giró, highlights the internal tensions within a party that has stifled debate, where criticism of the political strategy is made in private, and decisions are made individually and communicated to a small group of no more than four people the leader trusts most. Giró's farewell letter is devastating when it asserts that Junts leaders put party interests before the interests of the country.

Without new leaders who have credibility and the ability to interpret the country of today and the future, Junts runs the risk of becoming irrelevant. Today, its strength lies in its influence on Spanish socialism, but it will be difficult to renew this influence without a clear project aimed at liberal-centrist sovereignty. Ideologically, today it is a heterogeneous amalgam that baffles many of its voters and quite a few of its mayors. The cycle is closing, and only politics—understood as an exercise in responsibility and foresight—can open a new one. The effects of injustice are finite, and voters expect proposals in uncertain times.

As Bob Dylan wrote, the times they are a-changin': "Admit that the water around you is rising. And admit that soon you'll be soaked to the skin. If time has any value, you'd better start swimming, or you'll sink like a stone, for the times they are a-changin'."