The PP and its Dark Ways

Via the International News Alliance we learn that the president of the ruling PSOE said loud and clear about the way the PP has been behaving regarding the proposed new statut.

Here you have the note:

Socialist chief berates PP alarmism over Catalan plan

Draft reform to receive first reading in Congress this week

El Pais Spain ANDREW EATWELL

Madrid

The president of Spain's governing Socialist party downplayed on Sunday the possible implications for the future of Spain posed by a Catalan bid for increased home rule, accusing the opposition Popular Party of "nonsensical" and "foolish" scaremongering.

Speaking at a congress of the Basque Socialist Party (PSE) in Vitoria, Socialist party president Manuel Chaves declared that the government is merely permitting a "reform and modernization of the state" that is needed if the system of autonomous regions is to be adapted to "modern times": "We are the guarantors of the equality of all Spaniards," Chaves, the Andalusian premier, declared.

The reform of Catalonia's autonomy statute, which was approved by the regional parliament in Barcelona last month, is due to undergo its first reading in Congress on Wednesday amid fierce opposition from the Popular Party, which accuses the government of doing nothing in the face of an attempt to "balkanize" Spain.

"With this statute of division, Spain is faced with the first instance of a government actively working in favor of the disappearance of its powers," former PP Prime Minister José María Aznar declared on Friday.

Through appeals in Congress and to the Constitutional Court, the PP has sought to prevent the Spanish parliament from debating the text.

Chaves denounced the PP approach as blatantly "antidemocratic." He noted nonetheless that Congress has the power to "change" the text, a message apparently directed at the reform's architect, Catalan Socialist premier Pasqual Maragall, who was also present at Sunday's meeting. The reform has also sparked criticism outside political circles, with Toledo archbishop and Spanish Episcopal Conference vice president, Antonio Cañizares, warning Saturday that "Spain's unity is undoubtedly under threat."

© 2005 El Pais

The truth is, we could not expect anything different from the neanderthals that thinly diguise their Francoist leanings each time something moves forward.

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