Former MP for Unionist PSC Party Says Independence Inexorable

J.A. Donaire predicts so-called "plebiscitary" elections in Catalonia and the Catalan Parliament's Unilateral Declaration of Independence. 

José Antonio Donaire

The former MP and councillor for the Costa Brava town of Sant Feliu de Guixols, José Antonio Donaire, a long-time defender of a Spanish federal state, recognizes in a blog post (in Spanish) that “independence is irreversible.” He says this "without cheering or lamenting it" because he does not believe either in the Shangri-La  of some proponents of independence, nor the Apocalypse of the unionists.

He describes the evolution of the Catalan political landscape in recent years: "Separatists doubted, but unionists did not. The former dreamed of a scenario that looked unlikely (and even impractical) and the latter were firm in their secure certainty that their way was the only one possible." 

The key factors that explain the sea-change, says J.A. Donaire, is that the country's intelligentsia –university professors, economists, journalists, professionals– “has been attracted by independence, and that the process has clearly been bottom up. It has not been brought about by some sly plan by the Catalan government within the walls of the Generalitat but a popular movement that has erupted after years lying dormant."

He predicts that the independence process will come about after the prohibition of the much sought referendum, plebiscitary elections to get round the ban, an overwhelming victory of the pro-independence coalition, and finally a Unilateral Declaration of Independence. “The state will activate [article] 150” of the Spanish Constitution, disqualifying the Catalan President, but that “international pressure and public pressure will make that scenario untenable.” 

University professor Dr. José Antonio Donaire retired from active politics and left the Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC-PSOE), proponents of Spanish federal unionism, less than a year ago. Although he was born in the western Spanish province of Salamanca and spent his childhood in Caceres, he came to Catalonia and read Geography at the University of Girona. He is thus one of many Spaniards who migrated to Catalonia but who have become fully integrated into Catalan society.