The Catalan question is there. Yesterday we could feel it, touch it, chew it. The Diada showed it to us in all its splendor. If until a handful of years ago the Catalan question had not fractured Catalan society, unfortunately, in recent times, it has done so.

Democratic societies are open and flexible by nature. And Catalonia is. They are founded on the sum of the wills of all their citizens. That makes them enjoy a high Degree of adaptability and regeneration. Democratic societies know how to live very close to the ground, to today and now. For this reason, change is daily, constant, and at the same time imperceptible, as is change in the human body.

Just as it is the primary duty of a human being to preserve his own life, the primary duty of a democratic society is to continue to live, that is, to develop constitutionally. The survival instinct of a society is almost as strong as that of the conservation of the human being. Social fracture, however, is a risk, a cancer that can destroy the life of a society. Civil wars or terrorism, true social nightmares, are proof of this. But these are not the only causes of social fractures. A society is also torn apart when, more or less abruptly, there is no longer a social consensus on its constitutive purpose. A democratic society is broken when the consensus on the constitutional decision that identifies it as such vanishes. The constitutional decision is the genetic code of a political community: what are we together for? What mission statement unites us? What is our purpose?

These questions, time and again, are asked by all societies, and it is of great interest and usefulness that this should be the case. In no way should we be afraid of opening a constitutional crisis from which new ideas, as well as a renewed identity and a renewed mission statement could emerge. In this sense, it seems to me that a deep constitutional reflection within the Catalan people has a perfect place. It is a social self-reflection that unites the ties between all Catalans and generates social cohesion. For this reason, the Catalan question is tremendously enriching and must remain open until it is resolved because it is the result, not only of a radical nationalism, in my opinion completely outdated, but of a fundamental constitutional dialogue of much greater depth that affects the way of organizing the societies of our time.

Let me explain. The modern idea of the state, as such, is dying. Basically, the idea of the federal state, the least state-like of the states, is the last step before its total disappearance. Time for time. The monarchical idea is completely in crisis. The parliamentary monarchy, the least monarchical of all monarchies, is the last redoubt before its final extinction. The modern idea of sovereignty has become obsolete. Shared sovereignty, the least sovereign of all sovereignties, is the last rung before its political burial. Societies reinvent themselves, reconfigure themselves, regenerate themselves, like the skin, from agreement with new ideas, conceptions, demands. For this reason, the Catalan constitutional discussion is an expression of the dynamism of a living, advanced society. It is a political discussion , in the noblest sense of the term, of the first magnitude. Behind the Catalan question, there is not only a secessionist topic or a demand for independence. Behind it there is more, much more. There is, in many Catalans, a sincere desire for evolution and social development in the context of a globalized world in which the idea of nation state has been completely surpassed by the facts. My yes, then, to discussion is unconditional. And my yes to a noble enquiry when it is the case, too. In this context, the dialogue of Catalonia with Spain and with Europe is necessary. Catalonia is not an exclusive space, as is a private home, but a relational and shared space, in which a political community develops mainly by interacting with the others, which are also present and benefit from the territory. Any decision affecting the territory must be shared with the larger communities. For this reason, the only solution to the Catalan question is open and calm dialogue between all the communities affected. Catalonia has much to say. Spain, too. And Europe, quite a lot.

My great reservation to the Catalan question is not the what but the how. It is the means employed, which are precisely those that have caused the fracture. The end, independence, never justifies the means. And in Catalonia, unfortunately, this has not always been the case. In Catalonia, in order to achieve independence, some have done everything and in certain areas and sectors, they have come to justify the unjustifiable. It is not possible, it is not of receipt, to create a hostile environment that prevents the free expression of ideas to those who consider themselves as Catalan as Spanish. Political corruption cannot, should not, be justified in any way in order to achieve the desired independence. One cannot, one should not, make an ordago to the very Rule of Law by threatening to call a enquiry that has been declared unconstitutional by our highest Court. You cannot, you should not generate radicalism by manipulating history, ideas, or by promoting a fallacious victimhood.

The famous Swiss Renaissance physician Paracelsus, founder of toxicology, said that everything is poison and nothing is poison. Only the dose, in truth, makes the poison. And he was right. The excess of sectarianism, agitation, intolerance and social radicalism promoted by certain sectors of Catalan society will never be justifiable. Extremism leads nowhere. The most beautiful symphony, if the sound is not adjusted, becomes strident and unbearable. In my opinion, Catalan society is being politically poisoned. For this reason, the political discussion , so enriching at the beginning, has become clogged and rarefied. The social poisoning is creating a collective climate of insecurity, of moral coercion, of lack of political freedom. Thus, the truth begins to be of little, very little interest. And when truth is of no interest, ideology is imposed. In a society like this, coexistence begins to be uncomfortable, at least for dissenting minorities, because authenticity and respect are conspicuous by their absence. In these circumstances, it is easy for a kind of nationalist fundamentalism to emerge, as in fact has happened, which is totally exclusive and incompatible with the democratic principles of equality and participation.

For all these reasons, the enquiry of 9-N has become a totally unjustified enquiry . And it is so because a enquiry that does not respect the Rule of Law, nor the institutions that comprise it, is born flawed at the root. It is born poisoned. And it poisons regardless of what one thinks. It poisons those who say yes and those who say no. It poisons the convenor and the summoned. It poisons those who say yes and those who say no. It poisons those who call and those who are called. It harms the entire social fabric.

A democratic society is not only a political order. It is also a moral, social, economic and legal order. For this reason, the great decisions, although always democratic, cannot neglect the integrity of the various orders. Catalonia, trying to separate itself from Spain in this way, is destroying itself, as well as causing irreparable damage to Spain. Let's speak clearly, without any concealment. If Catalonia has to be independent one day, so be it. But please, without coercion, without corruption, without impositions, without deceit, without lies. But rather as a process of democratic maturation, of dialogue with Spain and Europe, of solidarity and peaceful reflection. I believe in the maturation of peoples and in their natural emancipation. Not, however, in radical nationalisms typical of past eras and obsolete ideologies completely overcome in the era of globalization.