# taz.de -- Spotlight Populism: Script writer needed
       
       > Nationalisms in Spain – powerful, bloody till recently and one of the
       > most complex issues for the central government.
       
 (IMG) Bild: People gather with „estelada“ or pro-independence flags
       
       Southern European countries are struggling to cope with painfull
       consequences brought by recession and the euro crisis and, one of them,
       Spain, has got to deal also with another issue: domestic nationalisms. As
       deep rooted historic phenomena Basque and Catalonian nationalisms are there
       for good. It is worthwhile reading the essay “España invertebrada“ written
       by the thinker José Ortega y Gasset in 1920; he maintains that,
       historically, when the central power has endorsed challenging and ambitious
       plans for the whole country Basques and Catalunians have made their best of
       it.
       
       Partly, as the expression of the social malaise caused by the crisis, there
       is a new party in Spain, a left leaning one, called Podemos, which has
       dramatically eroded the electoral performance of the Socialist Party ( PSOE
       ).
       
       So much so that PSOE (Partido Socialista Obrero Español or Spanish
       Socialist Workers Party) has got the smallest number of deputies ever in
       the Spanish Parliament in two consecutive general elections. In the
       political wrangling that followed PSOE has seen its Secretary General being
       sacked and the majority of its deputies abstaining in parliament enabling
       the conservative Partido Popular, the party that won the elections, to form
       a minority government.
       
       PODEMOS smothered its political stance around European issues as the two
       election campaigns developed. Although the economic criteria set by
       Brussels has been at the center of bitter debates, against all odds, Spain
       has not seen the rise of any far right, anti- European party.
       
       But we do have an anti- European, anti-system party, it is called CUP or
       Candidatura de Unidad Popular (Candidature of Popular Unity) that has come
       to the forefront of Catalonian politics with the latest bid for
       Independence launched by its regional Government.
       
       CUP would propose leaving both the EU and NATO in case Catalunya would
       secede from Spain. The Catalonian Autonomic Government needs CUP because it
       lacks the necessary parliamentary backing to pass laws, among them next
       years’ budgetary law.
       
       The most deeply disturbing fact in the current maneuver of the Catalonian
       government in its bid for independence is the following: in the last
       Catalonian general elections held in September 2015, the percentage of
       votes that went to pro-independence parties was 47,7% while parties that
       are not for secession got 51,7%. Parliamentary arithmetics enabled the
       formation of a minority pro-independece government whose external life-line
       is the mentioned CUP.
       
       The Catalonian Government is committed to make what it takes to form a new
       state, or so it says. Questions related to the finances of the Autonomic
       Communities are at stake in the Catalonian issue. The Catalonian Autonomic
       Government, or Generalitat, pleads for changes in the finance system that
       deems detrimental for them. Seemingly, any such change would require a
       reform of the 1978 Constitution. Neither sheer denial from Madrid nor
       unilateral secessionist moves from Barcelona are going to be useful.
       Dialogue would have to prevail.
       
       The issue is thorny and requires lots of energy and political intelligence
       to solve it. The central government headed by the conservative Mariano
       Rajoy would have to turn necessity into virtue to tackle it.
       
       Unlike what is happening in Catalunya with the mainstream nationalists, the
       Basque Nationalist Party, PNV, having won elections although not with the
       necessary lead to form a government of its own, has chosen the Basque
       Socialist Party as the coalition partner. The two parties, with different
       ideological mindsets, sharing power has been seen as an encouraging event;
       an opposite example to feud- politics.
       
       As Ortega y Gasset would say for Spain, there can be said for the EU, it is
       necessary to, carefully, listen to partners, to be aware of their
       expectations and dreams, thus, to be able to make proposals, bold enough,
       to seduce them to play a role that nobody else could play instead. The play
       would be the United States of Europe. An outstanding script writer is
       needed.
       
       Ana Aizpiri is journalist for the main channels of Basque Radio and
       Television. Specialist on Arab and Islamic affairs; studied in Egypt and at
       the School of Translators of Toledo.
       
       26 Jul 2017
       
       ## AUTOREN
       
 (DIR) Ana Aizpiri
       
       ## TAGS
       
 (DIR) Spotlight Populism in Europe
 (DIR) taz international
 (DIR) taz in English
 (DIR) Populismus
 (DIR) Katalonien
 (DIR) Baskenland
 (DIR) taz in English
 (DIR) USA
       
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