EDUARDO MAGALLÓN Barcelona 03/01/2021
The president of the Cercle d’Economia, Javier Faus Collaborators
The Cercle d’Economia has issued a harsh opinion note in which – in addition to condemning the violence registered in the last nights in Barcelona – it openly criticizes the management of the political parties and the Government of the Generalitat. “The Cercle d’Economia categorically condemns all forms of violence. We extend this condemnation to political parties that, by action or omission, have legitimized vandalism”, affirms the institution that brings together businessmen, executives and academics and that Javier Faus presides.
“We have verified with amazement how top level officials or some members of the Government of the Generalitat, either with silence or in some cases even with complicity, have not put the maintenance of public order as a fundamental principle”, adds Cercle. “We interpret this lack of authority when facing a complex social situation as the most alarming consequence of the immobility in which politics is trapped in Catalonia”, the statement continues.
The “lack of authority” is the ‘most alarming’ outcome of the political stagnation in Catalonia
The riots, vandalism and looting registered these last nights in several cities of Catalonia -especially in Barcelona- took place when the calls for a protest demonstration against the imprisonment of rapper Pablo Hasél ended. The riots reached its peak on Saturday night when protesters managed to partially burn down a Barcelona Urban Guard van with a policeman inside who escaped unharmed.
The Cercle considers that Catalan politics is increasingly “irrelevant” and has suffered a “disempowerment”. The note recalls that the institution has previously denounced “the consequences of the lack of action of the institutions that represent us and the need to renew those that must ensure the defense of our rights and the fulfillment of our duties”.
Regarding the formation of a government in Catalonia, the Cercle asks “to move away from radicalisms, those of the right and those of the left, and the vetoes that only accentuate the division must be overcome; division which now might be left behind”. According to the institution “we need a pragmatic, professional government with prestigious advisers, fully operational institutions, consensual parliamentary deliberation and the assumption of an ambitious country project that is shared”.
The economic body warns in its note that “the most costly price of paralysis is the normalization of citizens’ mistrust of institutions, a dynamic that causes feedback from the extremes and the corrosion of democracy”.
The Cercle has taken the opportunity to list what, in its opinion, are the conclusions left by the elections. The first is fatigue. The second is that this fatigue is more accentuated in the poorest areas and among the young. The third is the verification of the parliamentary strengthening of the pro-independence bloc, which shows that the majority of Catalan society makes it clear that the territorial conflict is still open and awaits a propositional response. The fourth and last is the great advance of the forces that during the last legislature and the electoral campaign defended less confrontational positions.
The institution also considers that to reach this centrality “it also depends on the Spanish government”.
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