Spain is one of the most politically polarized countries in the world, according to a study by the University of Gothenburg published by La Vanguardia a few weeks ago. The polarization reaches the smallest municipalities and grows due to the demands of electoral needs, as has happened in the excesses registered by the Parliament and the Valencian Corts. A polarization that is resolved based on parliamentary riots and a lot of noise.
But the polarization is not just political. There are two visions of Spain in the most domestic field. On this bridge some thirteen million vehicles will move up and down at subsidized fuel prices. And besides, people happily spend 1 percent more despite inflation. It is obvious that Spain is doing well whether Sánchez says it or Feijóo denies it.
But it turns out that in this same quarter we Spaniards have withdrawn one percent of our savings because the salary and pensions are not enough. And in the tile sector there are already more than 4,000 workers in ERTE and another 2,000 about to enter ERE because the factories cannot support production at current costs. Is Spain doing well? Or is it a mantra with a lot of noise like Aznar did?
We are jubilant with the Euro-Mediterranean summit to be held this week in Alicante, where the Barcelona-Livorno gas pipeline project will be discussed before the presidents of some eight Mediterranean countries, without the entry of migration through the Strait or the Mediterranean appearing on the agenda East, with what is happening in the Sahel as a driver of these conflicts. But we direct international politics and that fills us with imperial emotions. It does not matter, therefore, that there is no reflection on the political transformation that derives from the energy crisis and the one that will come with the transition to clean energy. That does not fit into the script of the noisy political spectacle.
Spain is doing well because each one of us is delighted on the sofa watching the World Cup, enjoying the long weekend or in the corner bar with our purchasing power at rock bottom, according to the CIS surveys. And the Valencian health system is doing well because they say that the one in Madrid is worse. It is the polarization beyond the political tension that comes from 2004, when some lied and others set up a huge AgitProp. Who is capable of saying that this is not going well if we also win the World Cup against Morocco?
That is why the magnificent report presented by Joaquín Maudos, deputy director of the prestigious IVIE, in which he explains the declining reality of the Valencian economy and the need to change a productive model that does not work, goes unnoticed. But that does not count because it is not a zasca nor does it make noise.
