A weak government that has to negotiate every decision and swallow more than a few demands from its partners, but at the same time an unbeatable government due to the absence of an alternative – something like a perpetually ill government that enjoys very good health – will today pardon the pro-independence politicians imprisoned for the Catalan insurrection of 2017.

Fernando González Urbaneja | How is it possible that, burdened by an unprecedented pandemic, an intense recession and historic EU aid, political groups with power or influence are incapable of reaching a minimum of hopeful consensus? A reasonable explanation would be the mediocrity and selfishness of the leaders. There are data and trajectories that support this explanation. The absence of clear, firm, reasoned strategies for most of the known problems that hinder growth is obvious.

The Spanish press is full of jokes and laughs about the half-minute walk that US President Joe Biden had with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez after the family photo at the NATO summit. A more than brief meeting that Sánchez’s advisers – always predisposed to propaganda – had ‘sold’ as a sign of the good relationship between the two countries. The most critical newspapers talk of contempt for Spain. They…