In these times of confrontation and political anxiety, it is likely that there are those who think that one should be in a combat position and shoot (in this case, from the computer keyboard) against one of the Spains that, as Antonio Machado prescribed, continues to freeze. to many the heart. But this is not intended to be the purpose of this forum. I will limit myself to stating, once again, the enormous unrest caused by the impudent political confrontation and the enormous damage it entails in trust towards democracy and its institutions.
And this without ceasing to insist that, in the inventory of my concerns, it is still valid to think that a good part of the actors in the current confrontation pursue the Adamist objective of starting the democratic building again, abolishing what they contemptuously call “the regime of 78”. But, despite everything, I am convinced that neither the left is going to break up Spain nor the right is going to subject it to a thousand biblical plagues nor are the separatists going to make Catalonia independent. However, I do believe that what is at risk of disappearing is Europe, or, to be more precise, the European Union project. And about this I want to point out a reflection.
In a recent interview in this newspaper, former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta stated that “either there is complete European integration or we disappear.” This is a real danger, to which our institutional representatives should dedicate the energies that, unfortunately, in Spain are sucked by confrontation. Precisely, to address one of the key elements of the European future (such as its single market), La Vanguardia organized a conference a few weeks ago on the reforms necessary to guarantee European competitiveness, with representatives from various economic sectors and with Letta himself, to whom the EU has commissioned a report on the matter. And from the day I borrow the words of the president of Banco Sabadell, Josep Oliu, at the closing ceremony: “This is a very important day, Mr. Letta. Do you know why? Because he listens to us and we are not used to it.”
Such judgment seems rightly directed at the desire of public powers to generate an excess of regulatory standards and to do so, furthermore, without paying the necessary attention to the sectors on which the hypertrophic activity of the administrations falls. And it is precisely the vice of not listening to those who are going to bear the weight of regulation that causes the EU to fail to provide the necessary response to the challenge of being a true power in a global world. Remember that thing about how the EU was an economic giant, but a political dwarf? Well, today we are exposed to expanding our dwarfism also economically without correcting it politically.
And of course, this vice of not listening is not the property of community institutions. It is also usually the case of state and regional or regional governments. If not, look at the European electoral panorama. Review the political debates in France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands... and you will conclude that immigration and the rhythms of the ecological transition and its impact on the rural world allow the strengthening of the extreme right (Europhobic, among other characteristics) and of new agrarian parties or movements.
And we have to listen more. Not doing so is the best way to nourish the populisms that thrive in times of turbulence, whether political, social or economic. And, of course, the biggest threat to the EU.
