Game of chicken or hen game: In Rebel without cause, James Dean and Corey Allen lead to a precipice; The first one to leave is a chicken. The Spanish government and the Generalitat are involved in this infernal dynamic: The Catalan executive could announce some form of unilateral declaration of Independence and Europe is anxiously awaiting the reaction of Madrid. Minister Luis de Guindos has given some clue to his entry in the Eurogroup, in Luxembourg: “We must not advance events, but the government has everything prepared: it will respond accordingly [to the decision of the Generalitat]”. “There will be No independence from Catalonia, but irresponsible, irrational and radical policies can cause economic, social, and brutal divisions in Catalan society.” Guindos believes that Spain will grow above 3% this year and its team points out that markets have not sobrerreaccionado despite the delicate situation. “But this is not good: it generates noise, uncertainty and restlessness, mainly in Catalonia.”
Guindos has not speculated on the trail of large companies and banks that are leaving Catalonia. “Depositors can be calm: Spanish banks have the ECB umbrella,” he said. The paradox is that when a minister speaks of peace to the depositors, usually the flight of capital has already begun.
Most ministers have expressed concern about the situation in Spain. “We look at it with great attention and sometimes with concern,” said Commissioner Pierre Moscovici, who opted for a “dialogued, always preferable solution to violence.” Italian PIer Carlo Padoan has ensured that the Catalan independence challenge is “serious” and implies “a more unbalanced sign that shows the need to give a new impetus to the European Union.” The head of the Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, has ensured that it is an “internal affair” of Spain and before the flight of banks and companies has called to resolve the conflict “in Cold blood”. Catalonia and Spain are not on the agenda of the Eurogroup. But they will be one of the keys to the meeting of Ministers of Economy and Finance, the last of the German Wolfgang Schäuble in office. Schäuble is, according to the Spanish minister of Guindos, “a great forger of consensus”. And at the same time the guy who threatened to kick Greece out of the euro.
