Political and legal nonsense

I think that what the PSOE and Unidas Podemos government has done under pressure from Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya is a legal botch-up and a political folly. Both for reasons of substance and form. 

To abolish the crime of sedition by converting it into one of "aggravated public disorder" is to mix the sheep with the goats. The former punishes a breach of constitutional order, while the latter is limited to punishing a breach of public peace, which is something else and much less serious. With this reform, acts as serious as calling an illegal referendum, voting for disconnection laws or proclaiming the independence of a part of the national territory go unpunished, while those who applaud these decisions in the street and burn a couple of containers are punished more harshly, thus limiting their rights of expression, assembly and demonstration. What happened in October 2017 in Catalonia was much more serious than a public order problem, although it was that too, it was a challenge to the legitimate power and the constitutional order that emanates from popular sovereignty, with the aggravating factor of doing so from the very autonomous institutions of the State. In other words, an attempted coup d'état from within. The fact that this attack on the constitutional order can go unpunished while those who applaud it in the street are punished makes no sense. 

In the case of embezzlement, penalties are considerably reduced when there is no personal enrichment and public money, which is yours and mine, is used for such "innocent" things as attacking the territorial integrity of the State, which is far more serious, or to fill the coffers of political parties, thus legitimising the party corruption that has caused us so much dismay in recent years. 

These are important legal reforms that are carried out in haste, disregarding the reports of the highest consultative bodies and the desirable and enriching parliamentary debate. This is how absurd things like the huge botch-up of the "Yes is yes" law happen without anyone taking responsibility. 

It is not true that Europe is asking us for this reform because in France, Germany or Italy sedition is punished in a similar way, regardless of the name given to it in each place, and even less so are they asking us to change sedition to public disorder. And what certainly no European country does is a legal reform tailored to benefit certain people, with names and surnames, and even less so by negotiating it with the very criminals who are going to benefit from the change. That's aurora borealis. Remember what George Orwell said in "Animal Farm" that we are all equal, but some of us are more equal than others. It is very reactionary. If we really want to be more like the rest of the world, we could change the Electoral Law to require 5% of the votes to enter Parliament, as happens in France, or ban political parties that reject the Constitution, as they do in Germany. 

The Government claims that this à la carte reform will "deflate" pro-independence when those condemned in the courts say day in and day out that "o tornarem a fer", when the President of the Generalitat himself recognises that with this reform it will be more difficult to persecute pro-independence, and when every day we hear news from Catalonia of disobedience to the courts and rejection of the head of state, while they continue with the raca-raca of amnesty, self-determination and referendum. If the pro-independence supporters try it again, they will have an easier time of it because this legislative reform unprotects the Constitution instead of protecting it more, which is what the Spanish government is supposed to do in the face of those who make no secret of the fact that they want to do away with it. After all, that was what Pedro Sánchez swore or promised when he took office: to govern "with loyalty to the King and to fulfil and enforce the Constitution as the fundamental rule of the State". Already voices are coming from Barcelona calling for another referendum. Sánchez says there will never be one, but we must recognise that unfortunately he has a serious credibility problem. 

For all these reasons I have added my signature to the Manifesto published by the Association for the Defence of the Values of the Transition. 

Jorge Dezcallar, Ambassador of Spain 

Published in the Diario de Mallorca, el Periódico de Catalunya and the media of the Iberian Press Chain on Sunday 18 December 2022