It's already normal. The Spanish press has once again reacted to new steps by the pro-independence groups not only by discrediting each of them, but also by choosing different pejorative adjectives to describe the advances of the independence process and insisting, again, that State should invoke article 155 of the Constitution. Article 155 says that, if an autonomous community violates the Spanish constitution or acts in a way that "gravely threatens the general interest of Spain", the central government can force actions upon them and give instructions to any of the authorities in the autonomous community.
After yesterday's presentation of the Law of Transitional Jurisprudence and Foundation of the Republic, Madrid's newspapers have today opened their front pages with headlines of the kind "A law of illegal rupture" (La Razón) or "The separatist movement exhibits their law to push out the [Spanish] state in 34 days". But the editorials have also dealt with this question.
Under the title "'Fast-track' independence to set up a totalitarian state", the editorial of El Mundo somehow comes to the conclusion that PDeCAT (Catalan European Democratic Party) "has folded to the pressure from the ten radical deputies of the CUP (Popular Unity Candidacy) to approve, before the date fixed for the illegal referendum, the law that would automatically detach Catalonia from the [Spanish] state".
Opposite visions
And not just that. It is clear to the quoted daily, like many others and related political parties, that the Catalan government knows that the referendum will not take place and, in the case of El Mundo, they believe their intention is for "the law to become a legal instrument to allow them to carry out a coup d'état".
Continuing with arguments they've made before, the newspaper takes it as read that "the Catalan government handed over control and prominence of last Saturday's demonstration to the radicals of the CUP and the ANC (Catalan National Assembly), converting the homage to the victims of the jihadist attack into a pro-independence propaganda event", and it attributes the presentation of the law of Transitional Jurisprudence to a script established by the anti-capitalists of the CUP.
For all of this, they applaud the leader of PSOE (Spanish Socialist Worker's Party), Pedro Sánchez, for contacting the Spanish prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, to discuss the independence process and to urge the head of the central government "to give a suitable answer to the challenge".
Kidnapped by Catalonia
ABC, another Spanish newspaper, which also applauds the unity between PP (Popular Party) and PSOE to tackle the referendum, dedicates an analysis to the figure of Pedro Sánchez, which ends up related to the independence movement. It states that "September will be kidnapped by Catalonia", while waiting for "the eternal motion from PSOE than never arrives".
But this is the softest view that can be read in this newspaper. In their editorial, they call the law "pseudo-legal rubbish" and have no doubt that its approval would oblige Spain to enact article 155 of the Constitution and that "nationalism has completely lost its sense of reality and its sense of morality... having turned the attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils into supposed proof of Catalonia's ability to be an independent state."
The accusations, however, do not end there. The editorial goes a step further and emphasises that Catalonia "has spat in the hand offered in solidarity by the rest of the state and has preferred to attack king Felipe VI than the murderers of the Rambla and the maritime promenade of Cambrils".
Towards autocracy
This is the title of El País's editorial today, which emphasises that the law "has the appearance of a provisional, radically unconstitutional and anti-statutory fundamental law" and says that it's inspired in a regime like that dictated by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin for Crimea.
According to this newspaper, this project "is deserved by no Catalan citizen", but nor "by the bulk of independence supporters of good faith, who are seduced by a high-quality democracy, which is very far from this foundational text."
It ends describing with a variety of adjectives what it considers an "illiberal... authoritarian regime".
Driven mad
The editor of La Razón opted to make a video, instead of writing his editorial, and to say everything that he thinks in relation to the law of Transitional Jurisprudence. Francisco Marhuenda describes the CUP as "group of mad people" and "radicals" and laments that if he ends up having dual nationality "I'll end up locked up in Montjuic castle [in Barcelona]".
Marhuenda wants to remind them, "as they haven't studied", that "Catalonia has always been tied to Spain" and emphasises that behind all of this there is a "despair at seeing that their lies are falling apart", and that "their support is receding".
For everything, they conclude congratulating the PSOE leader for wanting to confront this "challenge" alongside the Spanish prime minister.
Absurd relationships
El Español trivialises the attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils describing it as being in "very bad taste" to present the law the very day after victim number 16 of the attacks died, which they believe "is one more piece of evidence that the secessionists submit everything, absolutely everything, to their calendar".
This demonstrates, at least according to the quoted paper, that this law is a "farce" and they remind that "no law can abolish a Constitution". However, once again urging Rajoy to enact article 155, they also blame this new step by pro-independence groups to the lack of political response and emphasise that the Spanish prime minister should have warned Catalan president Carles Puigdemont on 9th June when he announced the date of the referendum.
But not only do they attribute this responsibility to the head of the government, but also to the public prosecutors' office, who it reminds that "preparations for sedition" are "a crime as defined in articles 544 and 548 of the Penal Code".