Borrell

I believe that the fact that Josep Borrell is the EU’s new foreign policy chief is very bad news. Bad news, first of all, for me as a European. Second, as a Spanish citizen. And third, as a Catalan.

There are two contradictory ways to understand Europe. One is that of the Jacobin matrix, whether French or Castilian, centralizing and uniformist, Bourbonic, that worships the power of its states, like an oppressive pyramid. Another is the federal or confederal matrix, as a network in which diversity is expressed, the unique nature of each community is respected and no one is any better than anyone else. This is what Ernest Lluch referred to as the Austrian model.

Josep Borrell is the pure incarnation of the former model, the Jacobin. Disastrous. Disastrous for Europe, which will never be a stimulating project, if it is built according to the Jacobin model. Brexit is partly a reaction against this Jacobinism. The glorification of the Jacobin model is a disaster for Spain, which will fail to overcome this profound historical stalemate in which it finds itself. While for Catalonia, a Jacobin model in Spain and Europe is an unmitigated disaster. Borrell is bad news not because he’s not part of the solution for Europe, for Spain and for Catalonia, but rather because he’s the embodiment of the problem for all three of them.