Reading the Madrid press, listening to the radio, watching television or hearing Popular Party and Ciudadanos speakers, it's easy to imagine that the famous phrase used many months ago by former Spanish deputy prime minister Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría to refer to the winding-up of Catalonia's Diplocat offices could be applied by all those media to what Spain is undergoing now that Pedro Sánchez has taken power; the attacks on what they call a "Frankenstein government" really are that brutal. The patriotism of these communicators leads them directly to see a Spain that is, to paraphrase Saenz de Santamaría, "in liquidation".
All this, moreover, is taking place at a juncture when, with article 155 having been lifted, the Catalan government has formally taken possession of its powers and will now begin to flex its political muscles and shown where its priorities lie. The fact that the new governments in Madrid and in Barcelona have come to power in unison should make it possible, at least from the Catalan perspective, to know very quickly if there is any possibility of a revision of Spanish policy on Catalonia.
Let nobody be mistaken: Catalonia has demands that do not come from its government, but rather from its citizens. The two Catalan appointments with the ballot box last year, on 1st October and 21st December respectively, show this clearly. A policy of simply easing the tension by Pedro Sánchez will not be enough and, more than ever, the Catalan independence movement will need evidence and tangible actions. If these are not forthcoming, the trajectory of the new socialist executive will be the briefest in the history of Spain. This is what the PP and Ciudadanos will aim for: defeat Sánchez, orchestrate a Spain that is as nationalist as possible, and precipitate an election.
There is every chance that Spanish politics will be overrun by chaos if Sánchez does not take any risks. Everyone knows this. Even his most faithful allies, the Catalan Socialists (PSC) led by Miquel Iceta, whose members have just voted to remove the left-wing mayor of Badalona through a motion of no confidence agreed on with the PP and Ciudadanos. More than 90% of PSC membership was in favour of this change, a percentage that leaves no room for doubt on what sort of alliance the Socialist grass-roots in Badalona really want, and the statistic should be noted well by those who are confused or take a rosy-tinted view of the current context. Just one additional point to make: if Iceta kicks Rajoy out of the Spanish prime ministerial job using his deputies in Madrid and is then successful in persuading the PP's 11 Badalona councillors to offer the mayor's job on a plate to the PSC, a party which only has three councillors in Badalona, then the party will have achieved a political gesture comparable to the recent about-face by the Basque Nationalists (EAJ). Although one with a very low level of political coherence.