The political and judicial storm of the independence process reached its peak with the Parliament´s declaration, and the subsequent silence, prison, and exile transformed the strength of the tempest. The 21 December elections opened a new stage in the process, which will require a courageous interpretation because the inclement weather will last.
In stepping down from the presidency of PDECat, Artur Mas admitted as much, and his message delivered a dose of realism to his own group. Firstly, he recognized that the new political machine for recovering from Convergència's political suicide, triggered by its founding father and his family, is Junts per Catalunya. The success of the President´s electoral list, improvised from Brussels by a close-knit group of government officials without the involvement of PDECat, capitalized on the figure of Carles Puigdemont, who has never been an apparatchik.
Artur Mas completed his stepping aside that began two years ago, paving the way for a new leadership and atoning for the political consequences that could emerge from the ruling on the Palau case, which will be made public on Monday. Besieged judicially over the 2014 non-binding independence and the referendum on October 1, his hands are tied and he knows that he will, at the very least, be disqualified from holding office.
By stepping down, Mas admitted that his experience and personality won’t let him turn a new page, and that now is the time for new players who will have to make a more realistic interpretation of the situation than he himself made after the 2015 elections. Yesterday, he stressed that the December elections had provided a parliamentary majority, but not enough votes to those who support independence, and that they will have to act "accordingly". Coming to terms with the diagnosis allows the strategy to match reality.
