Luis B. García 04/09/2019 09:23
The former President of the Generalitat, Jordi Pujol, writes regularly in his blog of Serviol Association he chairs. In it, the former leader exposes his thoughts on issues of interest, currently related to Catalonia, but usually does not venture on the background of the Catalan crisis, or on the worldly issues that interfere in the ‘process’. That is why is remarkable one of the articles written by Pujol last July but released on September 2, in which he speaks openly about the solution to the Catalan question: a solution that in his opinion should not be the transfer of the Senate to Barcelona or one or two ministries, as proposed by economist Ramón Tamames in an interview in La Vanguardia, not even the independence, since he places the discussion in “an effective fitting in the Spanish and European framework”.
Specifically, the former president argues: “What is debated is not a little more economic and administrative power, but the recognition of a reality with collective consciousness, and historical memory, with a language and a culture and especially with a collective Project of its own. And with the will of effective fitting in the Spanish and European framework ”.
“What is debated is not a little more economic and administrative power, but the recognition of a reality with collective conscience (…) with a collective project of its own and with a will to effectively fitting into the Spanish and European framework”
For Pujol, the question of Catalonia demands: “real political and competence power, fair and sufficient financing, and recognition of one’s identity”. But the expresident does not cite the path of independence or the exercise of self-determination as part of the solution, but also does not explain what he believes this recognition of one’s identity would mean. It focuses on refuting the recipes that, like Tamames’s, would not solve the issue, since they only “have a lot to talk about but avoid going to the root of the problem,” in short, “shun the issue.”
The former leader even sets the example of Chile where the Senate is located in Valparaíso and, nevertheless, “everything is taken by Santiago and everything is decided in Santiago,” as he was able to collect directly from some of the senators on a visit years ago.
“Obviously”, the Catalan question will not be solved with “unusual proposals such as the State transferring the Senate to Barcelona”
According to the complaints of those senators, the situation in the South American country necessitated an “effort to rebalance” that required “more redistribution of power and, above all, that Valparaíso could play a role not administrative, but political” . And this is precisely the solution that Pujol sees suitable for Catalonia, which in any case believes that it would be an acknowledgment for “a collective project of its own”, but “with a will to effectively fitting the Spanish and European framework”.
Pujol is clear that “obviously”, the Catalan question will not be resolved with “unusual proposals such as the State transferring the Senate to Barcelona”, so that “Barcelona is like Valparaíso”, but neither “making a promised road 20 or 50 years ago”, or “advancing as an exception more money than according to the Statute, they should have paid us for many months. ”
Paraphrasing the exconseller of Economy of the PSC, Antoni Castells, reaffirms that “the current conflict is not only, or even mainly, a money problem; It is rather a matter of recognition. ”
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