I am a big admirer of the Spanish democracy. Especially since that dramatic date of the 23rd of February 1981. The day colonel Tejero attempted his coup d’état. Javier Cercas in his famous book “Anatomía de un instante”, describes how under the threat of Tejero’s pistol, three Spanish political leaders stayed upright in their seats, refused to hide under their benches: Santiago Carrillo, the historical leader of the communist party. Adolfo Suarez, the first prime minister of democratic Spain. And his deputy General Gutierrez Mellado. Despite the shots, not one of them blinked. An act of courage and determination that anchored forever democracy in Spanish souls. Under the pistol of putschist Tejero, Spanish democracy was born. So nobody of us has to give any lesson in democracy to Spain.
Now 36 years later, Spanish democracy has to surmount itself again. To surmount this deep division, to overcome this existential crisis. And I think it has to do so not by believing that the judiciary can solve the problems on its own. Certainly not by using deplorable violence, even when it was based on a ruling of a court. In other words, not just by relying on the power of the state. No. What we need is a renewed political vision, an inclusive dialogue. A vision that the future and the interests of all people living in Spain lies in a multi-cultural, multilingual, federal state embedded in a multicultural, multilingual and federal Europe.
It’s true, you cannot go against the law. It’s also true you cannot govern without the law. But, it’s even more true, you cannot solve such a deep division, only with the law. You need also to listen, to try to understand each other, to dialogue, to talk with one another. That is the only way to find solutions. And that’s the real strength of good politicians and statesmen.
To my friends in Catalonia I want to say, it’s not in the interest of your citizens to pursue separatism at all costs. That the referendum was against the constitution is not my main point. The point is that this referendum simply lacked basic democratic legitimacy. You knew very well in advance that a majority of the Catalans would not participate, would stay at home, as the majority of them are against separation. It’s not by accident, you didn’t even install a minimum threshold. So the result of this referendum was already known before it began. How you call this? Manipulation? Deception? Moreover, to declare independence based on the outcome of a defective referendum is totally irresponsible. Not so much for Spain, not so much for Europe, but for Catalonia itself. It will cause a fatal fracture in your society, a fracture that may be impossible to heal. You know who is going to profit from this gamble? The anti-Europeans, who – as we know – want to destroy our union, and who started already today to abuse your cause. To encourage you to violate the Treaties.
So I urge all sides to stop the escalation. Go sit around the table. The spirit there has to be the understanding that the future of more than 70 European nations, the future of Catalonia, the future of my own Flemish community lies not in brutal separation, but lies in cooperation, cooperation inside federal structures in a federal Europe. Look to your own Basque countrymen. Look what they have achieved. How they have developed their country. Defeating terrorism, and reinventing themselves, proud and autonomous.
And finally, in politics it’s not a shame to make compromises. The opposite is true. I did it all my life and I’m still alive. Moreover, when you have to make a choice between the steps forward of a compromise or the standstill due to purity, choose then the way forward. However, small the steps may be. In the words of Barbara Tuchman, in her famous book “The March of the Folly”: “(Don’t) throw away the greater for the less, (Don’t) to pursue the unworkable at the sacrifice of the possible”.
