Dear colleagues,

many of you probably have followed the extraordinary media coverage about the Spanish team victory in Southafrica. To be honest, for those who, like me, are big fans of sports, the Spanish team deserved the cup. If the Dutch had of triumphed, it would have been bad for the game because there is no place for the way they approached the match. I hope I will not be accused of localism if I say that Spain won playing like the Futbol Club Barcelona has being doing for the last two seasons, specially since Josep Guardiola is its coach. The paradox is that this tremendously effective style came from the Netherlands. First Mitchells and then Cruyff inspired this way to understand the football. Nothing to do, I have to say, with the Netherlands we saw yesterday, more willing to destroy than to create, more willing to break than to enjoy and make others enjoy. Thus, talking about football, no doubt, yesterday Spanish team deserved to win.

Nevertheless, I also request you to take note of another circumstance that took place in Barcelona just 24 hours before. It was the biggest demonstration that have taken place probably ever. The demonstration came a day after a constitutional court declared that there was no legal basis to recognise Catalonia as a nation, among other things.

More than one million people joined in saying 'Enough is enough'. I admit it is sometimes difficult to understand this from abroad.

To make a long story short, it all started in 2004, when the former Catalan government felt the need to create a new constitutional law of Catalonia (Estatut), in which Catalans would describe how they want their country to be and what they want for their country.

The result has been 5 years of negotiations. The Estatut was first approved by the Catalan Parliament. The Spanish government did not agree with it and changed some things. Then there came a referendum. The Catalan citizens voted yes to this changed Estatut.

Right after that the PP (Spanish right wing party) and the figure of the defender of the people brought the Estatut to court as they thought that it was against the Spanish constitution.

Now the Spanish Constitution Court has begun to show the results of the verdict:
1. Catalonia is not allowed to call itself a nation,
2. The Catalan language is not allowed to have any kind of preference in Catalonia,
3. Catalonia is not allowed to have an entity to control independently the laws created by the Catalan Parliament, they are always subject to Spanish supervision.
4. Catalonia loses the competence on the Catalan banks, only the Spanish government has control over banks.
5. Catalonia cannot take any decisions on the creation and supervision of Taxes. The Spanish government decides.
6. The historical rights of Catalonia are neglected. As Catalonia is not allowed to be a nation it can neither posess any national symbols such as a national flag or a national anthem.
7. Catalonia is not allowed to have any control or supervision on immigration and how to deal with it (the last 15 years the population of Catalonia has increased by 16%, from 6 to more than 7 million inhabitants, all thanks to a massive and uncontrolled immigration),
8. The Spanish government decides how Catalonia shall be structured in regions and councils.
9. Parents who want their children to fully study in Spanish language in Catalonia must be able to study in Spanish language (but if Catalan children in Spain want to study in Catalan that is not necessary).

You might think that all this does not deserve such a mobilization, that we should simply be happy with what we have already. I perceive regularly this feeling when I claim, for instance, to be able to speak in Catalan in the European Parliament (explaining for instance that being 10 million Catalan speakers in Europe, and more that 12 MEPs of that language community, it is a really bizarre situation that we cannot use that language, at least, in plenary).

Maybe this demonstration can show you how important is such a debate. I can understand that many of you don't share this feeling.

What I ask you is simply to develop a bit of empathy and try to understand why so many people that not so long time ago were defending a pluralistic model of Spain, today have become proindependence, claiming for a Catalonia becoming a new European State.

You might agree or not with this approach, but, isn't more than ONE MILLION of people a sufficient reason to believe that something is changing socially and politically in Catalonia?