The sword and the wall

Politics serves to transform things, to prolong situations or to complicate them definitively. The question of confidence that Carles Puigdemont pulled out of his sleeve to demonstrate his cunning (how much damage the cunning have done in Catalan politics!) seemed like it was going to be one of those entanglements that end up blowing everything up. The tenant of Waterloo wanted to put Pedro Sánchez between a rock and a hard place, even though it seemed that the sword was made of wood, and the wall, a smokescreen. He would not have been the first to be stabbed by a sharp splinter or drown in a toxic vapor. The president of the Government knew perfectly well that no one could force him to go through a motion of this calibre, but, if he accepted it, he would show his weakness and risk an unpredictable session. However, the leader of Junts wanted to push his possibilities, as if nothing more important was happening in the world, and threatened to break the deck if his request was not granted.

On Friday, the PSOE sent José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero to negotiate with Junts in Switzerland. Or rather, to reinforce the delegation with him. The former president has a fluid relationship with Puigdemont due to his position in favour of amnesty from the outset and because he has rolled up his sleeves when communication has been interrupted. The two are nothing alike, like some married couples, but the relationship works, and no one has ever seen them fight.

Puigdemont refuses to allow Sánchez to debate a motion of confidence

Zapatero is an avid reader of Jorge Luis Borges, and even wrote the prologue to one of his books. One phrase by the Argentine writer that the politician often uses is that “only those things that were not of time endure in time,” which is a way of saying that the only thing that needs to be fought for are the important issues and that there is room for the rest, since history will not demand it from us.

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For some time now, Junts has been trying to resemble the PNV and appear more pragmatic than angry, more possibilist than cynical. Puigdemont's resignation is not free, but it has little cost. It made no sense for Sánchez to prepare a vote of confidence on the flight back from Kyiv. Borges also wrote: "Do not speak unless you can improve the silence."