In April 2017, Josep Lluís Trapero took office as chief of the Mossos in an unusual ceremony at the Palau de la Generalitat. There was overbooking: President Carles Puigdemont, the president of the Parliament Carme Forcadell, Vice President Oriol Junqueras, and seven councilors, commanders of the state security forces and bodies, the army… “The archbishop was missing!”, those present recall, and it was not because no one thought to invite him. Trapero has never been just any mosso. In uniform, he never shied away from the spotlight; in a suit, he faded away. Reactions to his resignation as director of the Mossos range from the “predictable” of his defenders to the toast with Corpinat of his detractors.
Focusing on the personal relationship between Trapero and the Interior councilor is “a slippery slope,” as Núria Parlon herself acknowledged when announcing the change in the department, but within the Government there is no doubt that the chief’s departure is due to an “ego problem.” Trapero was Salvador Illa’s star signing this legislature; he agreed to take off the uniform, but did not foresee that the tandem with Parlon was not such. It implied a political hierarchy in which the chief was not at the top and, unless the councilor handed him the keys to the department, in a terrain of permanent disagreement, resignation was the only possible outcome.
Trapero was caught between political servitude and the limited powers of the position over Mossos operations. For him, being a mosso is more than a profession. In the solemnity of the Palau upon becoming chief, he confessed to the audience that he lived his mission “from transcendence.” He led the Mossos to their operational majority, as demonstrated after the Ramblas attacks; he was a hero and, later, a victim of independence supporters, while the character surpassed the position. “They already knew who they were hiring,” Government sources now reflect. What they did not expect was that his leap into politics would not include a four-year commitment and would end with the closest thing to “Well, then very well, then goodbye” that went viral after the 17-A attacks.
The chief has seen the opposition accuse him of “lying” about the device for the visit of the Kings to Montserrat and, reluctantly, apologized for the infiltration of mossos in a teachers’ assembly. Trapero arrived as a superstar and faded away in the office. ERC tempted the PSC with their vote on the budgets in exchange for the chief’s fall. Meanwhile, Parlon has managed to grease relations with Trapero’s detractors within the PSC and ERC mayors. “Time has proven us right in a resounding way,” the republicans maintain. “Now there will be a truce,” they add, because the choice of Commissioner Ferran López as a replacement pleases them. Having been at the head of the Mossos during the intervention of the autonomy with Article 155 of the Constitution is not a burden. López “saved the Mossos” so that they continue to exist today, former Interior officials from different parties maintain.
Read more Strive like me, kid
Clinging to the “nothing happens” in the Government is not realistic; Orriols looks like the opposition leader
Although the resolution of the entrenched conflict in Interior satisfies (almost) everyone, the “internal murmur of movements” in the Government continues to grow, some fueled from within. The recent exit operation worries due to the wear on the image of efficiency that Illa imposes on his councilors. The changes in the sub-government are more than those listed and the causes – “personal reasons” – range from wear due to the president’s demands to incompetence in the position. Illa promised excellence in management and the narrative of successive crises in Education or Interior, passing through Rodalies and even Meteocat forecasts, undermines public confidence.
The Government is “calm,” they maintain, and continuity for another legislature is taken for granted due to the absence of a viable alternative. But it is no consolation. One after another, polls show that settling into the “nothing happens” is not realistic. The PSC is on a downward trend, while Aliança Catalana grows and not only at the expense of Junts, entrusted to the umpteenth Puigdemont effect. The sanitary cordons may shore up another Illa government, but Silvia Orriols has taken on the face of opposition leader.
Read more Aragón demands the “comprehensive review” of data center regulations
