Maquiavelo once said that few see what we are, while many see what we appear to be. This is why politics often guards appearances more than realities, masking underlying motives with grand rhetoric. Demagogy, in this view, represents the apex of appearance over substance: a vast ocean of rhetoric that paints empty content with impressive colors. The first lesson every politician learns is that between seeming and being, seeming usually wins.
Around the importance of form, it is striking how easily Spain’s political theater sheds its restraint, echoing Giulio Andreotti’s verdict about a lack of fineness. In matters touching Catalonia, Spain’s politics does not lack nuance; it rarely even needs to maintain composure, shielded by a sense of impunity in handling the Catalan issue. Among the players, Aznar stands out as the archetype of blunt force, delivering raw statements, showing no pretense of consensus. Occasionally he steps out of the shadows and issues apocalyptic warnings about Spain’s dangers and the supposed traitorous sedition, always wearing the mantle of a savior. It is the sword of Spain falling on Catalan sinners, the ram against heretics, and therefore anything but a display of restraint is expected in this frame.
Apart from the crude rhetoric of the most entrenched right, the fundamental lack of refinement regarding Catalonia is widespread across the political spectrum. These days offer a double illustration. On one hand, the Aragon government’s choice to keep artworks from Sijena hidden from public view shows that it was not the art, the heritage, or the culture at stake but Catalunya. Once the damage is done, Sijena ceases to be urgent. Yet the second example deserves the highest mark for revealing the absence of ethics: a political game over financing Catalonia, where promises of a special economic status were tied to ERC guaranteeing Illa’s investiture. It is disheartening and humiliating to see a national leader toy with a sensitive issue that affects Catalan citizens, regardless of party color, a concern that Catalan society has long voiced. Beyond the credibility of the proposal, which was a fragile balloon already deflated by the Socialist Party itself, there is a risk they may be tempted to exploit Catalonia’s funding, aligning it with Madrid’s presidency and treating it as a mere bargaining chip. As if one could stand in a market and bargain with citizens’ livelihoods, with no genuine political accord in sight. The questions Carles Puigdemont publicly raised are a catalog of shame: does funding depend on putting allies in power? Is there a financial injustice that worsens with every year that passes? Is there a sanction being applied for not having a socialist in the regional government? Are we witnessing political blackmail? The move unfolded as a drunken game under cups, without any real agreement and, for days, it rolled the funding issue like a marble under Catalan vessels, a trick played by a seasoned three-card monte operator. And like amateurs, there was nothing beneath the cups.
The matter is doubly serious. No Spanish president has shown the willingness to resolve a long-standing injustice that leaves Catalonia underfunded and the state underperforming on its commitments. This annual drain weakens the region’s economy, harms strategic sectors, and impoverishes Catalan society. If that were not enough, the added crudeness of using this delicate issue to trading political capital only compounds the damage. The irony lies in how clumsy the tactic is: rather than boosting Illa, it undermines him; after such a transparent dirty move, ERC faces an even tougher case to justify its support. It may be called a masterstroke—as a move toward elections.