Jaume Reixach 02/09/2020
The history of Catalonia is millenary and we Catalans have known many glories and defeats in the course of past centuries. The last drama experienced was the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), followed by the long and dark Franco dictatorship, which lasted until the first democratic elections, in 1977.
One of the consequences of the recovery of democracy in Spain was the return of President Josep Tarradellas and the reestablishment of the Generalitat, as an institution of self-government in Catalonia. Another major event was the entry of Spain as a member of the European Union (1986).
In this way, the old Catalonia was established on the European community map as a region: yes, endowed with reinforced powers, compared to other medieval kingdoms (Brittany, Burgundy, Veneto, etc …). The celebration of the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona is the paradigm of this new Catalonia, supported by the Spanish Constitution, the Statute of Autonomy and the European Treaties.
This legislative and institutional tripod gave Catalonia a long period of 30 years of economic, social and cultural progress, despite the corruption of the Pujolist regime (1980-2003) and the instability of the tripartites (2003-10). The great financial crisis of 2007 led to the dramatic disappearance of the savings banks of Catalunya, Penedès, Girona, Tarragona, Sabadell, Terrassa, Manresa, Laietana and Manlleu and an objective destructuring of the Catalan economy, from which we have not recovered until today.
In the last 10 years, Catalonia has fallen into a deep and dark pit, due to the massive inoculation from the power of the Generalitat of the independence delusion. The three presidents we have had in this period – Artur Mas, Carles Puigdemont and Quim Torra – have been an absolute disaster. Artur Mas, for his pact with the PP, for the savage budget cuts in social policies and for opening the Pandora’s box of the “process”. Carles Puigdemont, for the tricky 1-O referendum, the DUI and for his flight to Brussels, forcing the Government of Mariano Rajoy to intervene the Generalitat with the application of humiliating Article 155. Quim Torra, for his absolute incompetence and lack of leadership .
In the last 10 years, Catalonia has fallen into a deep and dark pit, due to the massive inoculation from the power of the Generalitat of the independence delusion. The three presidents we have had in this period – Artur Mas, Carles Puigdemont and Quim Torra – have been an absolute disaster. Artur Mas, for his pact with the PP, for the savage budget cuts in social policies and for opening the Pandora’s box of the “process”. Carles Puigdemont, for the tricky 1-O referendum, the DUI and for his flight to Brussels, forcing the Government of Mariano Rajoy to intervene the Generalitat with the application of humiliating Article 155. Quim Torra, for his absolute incompetence and lack of leadership .
The “process” has caused large companies in Catalonia to choose to move their headquarters, frightened by the unpredictable consequences of the delusional and absurd secessionist adventure. One of the largest industries in the country, Nissan, has decided to close its production plants. And, like a chilli pepper, the Covid-19 pandemic has devastating effects on Catalonia’s main economic engine, tourism and trade.
The management of the health crisis by the Generalitat has been deplorable. More than 12,000 deaths and a complete lack of organization and capacity to cope with this summer’s outbreaks have ruined the collective sacrifice of confinement. Quim Torra, as president of the Generalitat, is ultimately responsible for this inexcusable inefficiency, which deepens the seriousness of the economic depression in which we are immersed, as evidenced by the runaway increase in unemployment and social inequality.
Quim Torra is useless and a coward. As an pro-independence politician, he has not managed to advance his political project one millimeter in the last two years. On the contrary, during his tenure the internal “war” between the heirs of Pujolismo and republican ERC has been more virulent and stark than ever, weakening and disorienting the movement. The leaders of the 1-O serve their sentences in prisons of the Generalitat, of which Quim Torra has the keys, and the Mossos d’Esquadra ruthlessly repress the independentists who alter public order.
The president of the Generalitat is a “big mouth” who plays the great patriot but who, when push comes to shove, shrinks like a worm before the powers of the State. He does not want to gamble on the splendid salary he receives – more than 140,000 euros a year! – to be coherent and consistent with his ideas. He has done a ridiculous and pathetic act of disobedience by placing a banner on the facade of the Generalitat, contravening the Electoral Law, and with this he already believes that he is a hero in the history of Catalonia, at the height of Francesc Macià or Lluís Companys.
Quim Torra is a hypocrite who only thinks about the personal well-being of his small political family and the great life pension that he will have as former president of the Generalitat once he leaves the position he occupies. He knows that independence is impossible, but he gestures like a bad actor without endangering, at any time, not a hair of his head.
The legislature is absolutely exhausted and burned out. The current Government of the Generalitat, divided and confronted, does not have any kind of sense or viability. Quim Torra has failed to fulfill his promise to call the elections after the approval of the budgets. But he has not done so, proving that his word has no value (we already knew).
The excuse he gives to maintain this unbearable and tragic agony is the fight against the pandemic. But it’s a lie (one more). Euskadi and Galicia have held elections, respecting all health precautionary measures. Quim Torra’s only reason to continue in office is to allow his mentor and tutor, Carles Puigdemont, time to organize his new political party, Junts x Catalunya (or whatever it is finally called), before the elections are called.
That is to say, Quim Torra sacrifices the imperative that all Catalans have for a new, solvent and efficient Government of the Generalitat, to the purely partisan and tactical interests of the paranoid narcissist from Waterloo. Catalonia is in tatters and ruined, but Quim Torra, like a new Nero – resounding and impassive -, is dedicated to contemplating the fire that devastates the country.
I know these words won’t do any good. I am a pure Catalan, for generations and generations. I love Catalonia, I have a sense of history and I want the best for all the people who live. I am very sorry that, in these times of desolation, the Generalitat has fallen into the hands of an incapable and nefarious character like Quim Torra, who only looks out for his personal interests and who only waits for the moment to leave to be able to retire with his pockets full .
A politician has to keep his feet on the ground and have the courage to undertake the necessary measures to improve the living conditions of the whole of society. Quim Torra does not have his feet on the ground and has no testicles to lead Catalonia. If you have a shred of decency and intelligence left, you have to call elections now. Its voluntary provisional status -which lasts for months and months- is a cancer that Catalonia cannot afford for another second.
If Quim Torra is as independentist as he presumes, let him lift the alleged DUI of September 27, 2017. Come on! If Quim Torra wants to load the Spanish Constitution, the Statute of Autonomy and the European Treaties, I encourage him to do so. Go! If he suffers so much for the independence prisoners, let him go find them, take them to the Palau de la Generalitat and order the Mossos d’Esquadra to shield the building “sine die”, with the use of firearms, if necessary.
As he will not do it – because he is a coward and a big mouth – I demand that he stop inflicting more damage on Catalonia. We Catalans know how to govern ourselves and, throughout history, we have shown that we can get out of very adverse situations and return to the path of prosperity and greatness. But, for that, we need to democratically get rid of counterproductive characters who, like Quim Torra or Carles Puigdemont, have as their motto “the worse the better”.
https://www.eltriangle.eu/es/opinion/quim-torra-inutil-y-cobarde_107178_102.html
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