Borrell regrets that the governance of Spain "depends on someone who doesn't give a damn"

He defends that a parliamentary democracy "requires pacts" and that the pacts require "cessions and compromises"

MADRID, 19 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The high representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, has lamented the "paradox" that the formation of the Government "depends on someone who says and repeats that the governability of Spain does not give a damn", and who On the other hand, "he only cares about the solution, in his own way, of course, of the conflict between Spain and Catalonia."

"In my opinion there is a conflict between Catalans, because Catalonia is not monolithic. The electoral results have shown it," says the former Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs in an interview with 'El País' and collected by Europa Press.

Borrell has defended that a parliamentary democracy "demands pacts" and that these pacts "require cessions and compromises", referring to the investiture negotiations between the PSOE and the nationalists after the July 23 elections.

However, he has pointed out that the problem is to create structures "by chance". "We have been creating State structures to resolve parliamentary situations. We should conceive the State we want and how the institutions should work before having to give in to the pressure of the moment. And sometimes making a virtue of necessity", he stated.

In the interview, Borrell stated that the last elections on July 23 have been a "watershed" in the "apparently unstoppable rise of the extreme right" and the tendency for the "classic and extreme right" to govern in coalition, so in such a way that it has described Spain as a "counterexample" compared to the dynamics of other countries.

Asked if the Government of Pedro Sánchez has lacked pedagogy to explain the transfers, Borrell has maintained that the acting president has had to face "very difficult" situations, but that, nonetheless, he has reaped positive results such as the " deinflammation" of the conflict in Catalonia.

"Let's remember that in 2017 there were real risks of fragmentation of the State. And let's compare it with the current situation, with the PSC banned yesterday and today outvoting the three pro-independence parties together," Borrell highlighted.

Regarding the lack of explanation of the pardons for independentistas and the reforms of the crimes of sedition and embezzlement, Borrell has indicated that Sánchez himself realized that it was necessary to explain himself "more and better". "That was what he did immediately after calling elections," he added.

Thus, he considers that his explanations "must have had an effect" because the PSOE obtained a better result in the elections than expected by the electoral polls.

"Spain, like Europe, is plural and diverse, but for me they exist as political entities. Others, in the name of that diversity, deny their existence. I believe that Spain and Europe face the same challenge," he concludes in this regard.

Borrell recalled that since the PSOE lost its absolute majority in 1993, the governments that have needed it "have had to be invested thanks to the peripheral nationalist parties." "The PP criticized the transfer of 15% of personal income tax and to the following legislature it had to yield 30%", thus referring to the investiture pact between CiU and PP in 1996.

During the interview, Borrell also comments on various current international issues as head of EU diplomacy. Thus, he claims that Russia has failed in its lightning invasion of Ukraine, for which it has paid an "enormous" price in material and human terms. "That does not mean that he has exhausted his capabilities, now Putin is sacrificing his army and his people for their national survival," he adds in this regard.

He has defended that the EU has done "what had to be done" in this war, which was to help Ukraine defend itself without expanding the conflict, although he has acknowledged that the aid has been "too gradual." He has also indicated that the process of Ukraine's entry into the EU "will be done as quickly as possible."

He has dismissed the possibility that the military coup in Niger is the result of a Russian conspiracy, although he admits that the country "takes advantage of the situation."

He has also admitted that there is a "clear risk" of an irregular migratory crisis derived from the situation in the African country, as well as a jihadist threat and potential destabilization for the countries in the area.