Not since the era of the so-called tamayazo in 2003, when two PSOE deputies (one of them named Tamayo) voted with the opposition to facilitate the arrival of the PP's Esperanza Aguirre to power in the Community of Madrid, has Madrid politics experienced such a sordid, chaotic, stab-in-the-back situation as that of this Wednesday. Without knowing for sure the exact order of events, the president of the autonomous community, the ineffable Isabel Díaz Ayuso, dissolved the autonomous parliament and called new elections for 4th May. At about the same time, two opposition parties, the PSOE and Más Madrid, each presented no-confidence motions with the intention of removing Ayuso from the presidency, with the consent of Ciudadanos (Cs) being necessary for this to be successful. Hours earlier, starting in Murcia, Cs had torn up the first right-wing tripartite agreements that it made in Spain's autonomous regions after the 2019 elections, and with its situation dominated by an irreversible crisis that will necessarily lead to its disappearance, it has chosen to take refuge under the Socialist umbrella, which clearly, for now, is a little more rainproof than that of the PP.
The synchronization of yesterday's two political actions in the Community of Madrid will undoubtedly end up in the courts, a playing field on which the PP is superior. It will begin with the Madrid High Court, pass to the Supreme Court and end, surely, in the Constitutional Court. The people of Madrid will have to prepare for an on-going roller-coaster ride in which justice will clearly prevail over politics. Nothing that we have not seen - although for different reasons - in Catalonia in recent years, from the blockade of candidacies for the Catalan presidency in Parliament, the disqualification of presidents and ministers and, more recently, the imposition of a February election date - against the decision of the Catalan government, Parliament and the health collectives, worried about the cost it would have in infections in the fight against Covid. Spanish justice has left its stamp on Catalan politics, via exaggerated interventions, making it clear that judicial power is well above the legislative and executive branches.
The show, then, is about to begin. And the knives are out. The left has its golden opportunity to conquer Madrid, but Ayuso also has one, to exploit a management that seen from the outside is absolutely calamitous, but according to the polls, has very wide support from Madrid voters. Justice will decide who governs and Catalans will lose their status of being the only ones who have decisions imposed on them from outside the democratic processes - decisions that should never have left that realm.
And moreover, all this takes place at a delicate moment in Catalan politics - in fact, here, all moments are fragile lately - because this Friday the Bureau of the Catalan Parliament must be chosen, while last Tuesday, we saw the European Parliament withdraw the immunity of Carles Puigdemont, Toni Comín and Clara Ponsatí, in the face of an opposition of close to 43% of MEPs who did not approve. And the political prisoners have had to re-enter the Lledoners prison, because their open prison regime has been withdrawn. There are more than enough reasons to regard the European chamber's vote as a certain political success and to be more than indignant with the re-entry into prison of the pro-independence leaders. Meanwhile, the Sánchez government is recklessly playing with the state solicitors, the public prosecutors and the pardons. Thus, it would be a good time for the pro-independence parties to be able to reach the necessary agreements to respect the mandate that voters gave on 14th February. Let it not be the case that, after laughing at the chaos that Madrid has to deal with, the next act to receive the public mockery of Catalans will be the politicians to whom voters gave 74 seats so that they can reach agreement. With their differences, of course, but without recklessly playing at sinking the ship.
In the face of Madrid's recklessness, frivolity and absurdity, there should be Catalan commitment, agreement and responsibility.