The fact that Barcelona is hosting the Goya Awards ceremony shortly after the recent Gaudí Awards gala is yet another episode in the culture war between two visions of Barcelona and its role in Spain. This battle, on a political level, can be likened to that between sovereigntists and federalists. The former want Barcelona to act as the capital of Catalonia and the Catalan language; that is, to be the capital of the region. as if it were capital of a state, to guarantee the survival of the national identity. The latter group intends for Barcelona to embrace its share of Spanish capital status without reservation, in order to maximize its potential and contribute to a more pluralistic understanding of the Iberian Peninsula.

Waiting for thelottery trainsThis Monday, a day on which some optimistic hopes are pinned for the recovery of the so-called commuter rail service, we read that the State has reduced its public works contracts in Catalonia for three consecutive years, according to a report by the Chamber of Public Works Contractors of our country. In other words, the State budgets little and executes even less: as you may recall, the Renfe and Adif projects in Catalonia for the last three years (2021, 2022, 2023) are not well documented. They have been 19%, 34% and 43%, respectivelyThen it's all apologies to the users, requests for patience, and promises that things will be fine now, but even with two socialist governments, in Catalonia and in Spain, the treatment is the same as always, not even Balthazar's method of praying to the Moreneta during the 2008 drought could fix that.

The negotiations over the one-off financing and the news about other negotiations regarding the Generalitat's participation in the management of Aena make it opportune to reflect on the relationship between Catalans and Spain.

It is very likely that the next general elections will be in 2027, when we will have had nine years of Sánchez governments. The natural erosion of power alone should make it likely that the elections would give way to a government that, unfortunately, will be heavily influenced by the Vox-Aznar-Ayuso triplet. Due to circumstances well known today, the probability of this happening has increased. A decidedly bad situation for Catalonia. In this situation, our best policies for the next two years are those that reduce the likelihood of a bad outcome and those that prepare us for a possibly adverse future. It would be pointless at this time to promote measures that would gratify us emotionally, but that were also reversible and conducive to a government conditioned by the triplet.

We are no longer a nation: we are now a periphery. On Friday, May 16, President Salvador Illa gave a conference in Pamplona organized by News Diary and The NewspaperThe president, in one of the stages of his pilgrimage through Spanish territory in which he explained his political project of harmony and reconciliation—and in passing, he sought forgiveness for the sovereignist sin that others had committed—considered Navarre and Catalonia as an example of Spain. peripheral. Literally – nuances are always important – said: "Today, Catalonia is a guarantee of loyalty and institutional cooperation. [...] If we broaden the focus a little, the radius, today it is the plural Spain, some speak of the peripheral Spain, including Navarre, which guarantees stability, prosperity and solidarity for those who have a concept, in my opinion, erroneous, of".

When I was very young, I heard or read a quote from the historian Josep Maria Ainaud de Lasarte that, due to its lucidity, I kept in my pocket. Ainaud said that the relationship between Catalonia and Spain was a tie of powerlessness: the historical powerlessness of Spanish power to end the Catalan difference, and the powerlessness of Catalonia to get rid of Spanish power. Ortega y Gasset was probably thinking the same thing when he formulated the "relevance"as the only possible strategy in the face of the unsolvable"Catalan problem". We would, therefore, be faced with a relationship based on resignation, where neither party is ever happy.

1. Necessity. The principle of humanism is to recognize man as an end and not as a means. And this is the meaning of democracy: the citizen as an end, bearer of rights and duties, and not as a subject of a power protected by a superior theological, identitarian or ideological belief. That is why, in democracy, we aspire to resolve conflicts through dialogue and negotiation and not through violent confrontation (with or without a legal alibi).