If Spain were starting from scratch, the best answer to its regional conundrums would be German-style federalism. But there is little chance of that
In June Pedro Sánchez, Spain’s Socialist prime minister, pardoned the prisoners in an effort to calm emotions. At a regional election in Catalonia in February the separatist coalition retained power but Esquerra, the most pragmatic of its three parties, came out on top. Mr Sánchez and Pere Aragonès, the new Catalan president, are to start talks on Catalonia’s future next week.
Second, Mr Aragonès wants to hold another referendum, with the national government’s agreement this time. Most scholars say the constitution prevents that. Both these demands are politically impossible for Mr Sánchez. The question is whether a compromise is possible and what it might look like. Messy though it is, the system worked well as long as there was money and political goodwill. Since the financial crisis of 2007-09, both have dried up. Politics has been riled by three successive populist movements. There is identitarian populism in Catalan nationalism’s embrace of separatism. Podemos, on the far left, rejects parts of the constitution; it is now the junior partner in Mr Sánchez’s coalition and favours a confederal Spain. Vox has arisen on the hard right.
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