Spain in crisis - Politics offers only solution

The crisis in Catalonia has gathered a dangerous momentum. 

How Catalonia, or at least those in Catalonia who wish to secede from Spain, reacts to the weekend decision by the Spanish government to strip the Catalan government of its autonomy and impose direct rule will define whether tensions escalate or create a window of opportunity to resolve the impasse.

Spain’s foreign minister, Alfonso Dastis, yesterday said the government was trying, “reluctantly”, to reinstate order in Catalonia following the unilateral independence referendum held on October 1.

Unsurprisingly, the speaker of the Catalan parliament, Carme Forcadell, called measures a “de facto coup d’état”. Forcadell’s response, highly-emotional and hardly a plausible one, shows how very intractable the situation is.

That she should fantastically describe Madrid’s inevitable response as a “de facto coup d’état” suggests she is appealing to hearts rather than minds — the last recourse of confounded nationalists.

That Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont described the move as the worst attack on Catalonia’s institutions since General Franco’s dictatorship adds to that impression.

This, despite the fact that 450,000 people marched in Barcelona on Saturday to demonstrate against direct rule, is hardly the language of compromise or a recognition that this crisis can only be resolved by political means.

Any other path would turn difficulty into disaster.