Former Spanish PM Felipe González compares Catalonia’s quest for independence with Nazism

El País newspaper Sunday ran a ‘letter to the Catalan people’ penned by Felipe González, the former Prime Minister of Spain, ahead of the regional elections of 27 September, which have been billed as a plebiscite and may launch Catalonia’s independence process. In the op-ed, the former Socialist leader entreats the Catalans to vote against the pro-independence list, Junts pel Sí. The reason for addressing himself to the Catalan people in such a way, González writes, is to urge ‘the citizens of Catalonia not to get dragged into an illegal and irresponsible adventure that threatens the coexistence among Catalans and between them and the rest of Spain’.

The ex-leader of PSOE goes as far as to compare Catalonia’s independence quest with German Nazism and Italian fascism: ‘It constitutes the closest development to the German or the Italian adventure of the 1930s’. ‘How is it possible that a will exists to lead the Catalan people toward isolation—a kind of 21st century Albania?’ he goes on to ask.

Gonzalez, who led the country for fourteen years, writes that ‘the idea of ​​breaking away from Spain, as proposed by Artur Mas in a strange, absurd mode of rejection and law-breaking, would have consequences that must be known to all’. Such a separation, González states, would prove disastrous for Spain and would cause a rift within Catalan society: ‘This rift is already being felt in terms of coexistence, we are starting to hear voices of rejection against those who do not have a sufficiently Catalan “pedigree”’, González writes.

‘The proposal put forth by this strange coalition united only by its rejection of Spain, no matter the results of the so-called electoral contest, could mark the beginning of a veritable dead-end road’, predicts González. ‘The supporters of independence, verging on madness, are beginning to offer Catalan citizenship to the Aragonese, the Valencian, the Balearic, and the southern French’, he added. ‘I do not believe Spain will be broken because I know this will not happen, no matter what the election results are’, González concluded.

Strong rebuke
Felipe González’s controversial missive has ruffled feathers among the Catalan political class. Ada Colau, mayor of Barcelona, ​​said that the Catalans have felt ‘deeply insulted’ by it. ‘I do not identify as a Nazi or a fascist. This issue should not be trivialized’, she said. The president of the Catalan National Assembly (ANC), Jordi Sánchez, said he will not tolerate being compared to the Nazis: ‘This article is not objective, it treads at the level of the stereotypes used in street debates’, he said. The clearest rebuke to González’s op-ed will be the rally on Catalonia’s National Day on 11 September, when independence supporters are called on to fill Barcelona’s Meridiana Avenue, said Sánchez.

Raul Romeva, former MEP and Junts pel Sí’s ‘head of list’ for Barcelona in the upcoming elections, said that ‘it is outrageous to compare the 2.3 million people who cast a vote last 9 November with Nazism and fascism’. ‘Many people view this as an insult, even a crime. It is the reason why some people in Europe are starting to say that the problem is not Catalonia, but the Spanish state’, said Romeva.

Singer-songwriter Lluís Llach, a Junts pel Sí candidate, also expressed his discomfort with the article. According to Llach, the series of corruption cases that tarnished González’s government mean that the former president lacks ‘democratic credibility’. Llach reminded González that he set up GAL, a police unit that was involved in state terrorism against the terrorist organization ETA, killed 27 people, and engaged in countless acts of torture.