Our future is decided now

The future of our country is being decided now. From the second half of 2024 to the first half of next year, Andorra will have to decide whether to strengthen its relations with the European Union through an Association Agreement.

Last Friday, Bondia told us (front page and page 6) that there were “technical links between supporters and opponents of the EU deal”.

In fact, 40.8% of those surveyed in the published poll viewed the agreement as a positive, while 38.9% viewed it as a negative proposal.

In this context, there is a strong sense of inertia among the different political forces supporting an alliance with the EU.

As long as Secretary of State Landry Riba continues to maintain the triumphalist communication line in his irascible and self-indulgent way and the majority of parties in Parliament continue to be absent in defending the coalition agreement, it does not seem that this will happen. Likewise, little progress can be made in obtaining membership of the association. Not to mention that in six months they could not, or rather they could not, complete the Catalan translation of the text of the coalition agreement agreed in Brussels last December.

On the other hand, the anti-association faction has not yet put forward any counter-proposals.

The arguments put forward by opponents of the coalition agreement do not seem very clear or convincing.

At Concordia, one detects a certain fear of making decisions and, on the contrary, the desire to induce dangerous expansions of uncertainty prevails.

The problem is, there’s a sense right now that no one has any plans for the opening phase. It’s not easy, because the phase requires a lot of politics and very little epicness.

Currently, no one in the General Council has the power of parliament to set the course. Over the years, promises have been enough to indoctrinate the working class, they are hurt, and the fear of the hypothetical reality is delaying the decision of political leaders, who should not be prayed for so much. Who will step up? What does it depend on?
These decisions are often driven by pain, such as worry about what they will say or fear of being singled out as a traitor. Doing nothing may be comfortable, but it usually does you no good.

What was the deciding factor? Fear of what they would say?
Between the inertia of some and the deliberate silence of others, it turns out that the distance between words and things, between the textbook theory of the DA’s decline, “neither left nor right,” and the failed propaganda of Concordia’s “new way of politics,” is pure and brutal reality.

There are two Andorras, moving at two different speeds, separated by deep social divisions that put the country’s identity and meaning at risk.

There is no policy that works if the world – and Europe – is ignored.

Now is the time to work towards moving forward, not to glorify the so-called “successful negotiations” – which is what they were, but they certainly did not deserve the qualification given to them by the Secretary of State – nor to exaggerate the entirely negative results, which were not the case either.

This confirms that one of the big problems we have in Andorra is a leadership problem. There is a lack of real leaders in every way you can think of. Politicians, businessmen, sports, society in general. We lack leadership in our key institutions and that is why our hair is shining.
Many of our future leaders need a playbook for their jobs.

They should have promised less and delivered more. This is the opposite of what usually happens in the various power centers that influence the lives of Andorran citizens.

It’s true that there are some positive examples of leaders in our companies, and we shouldn’t conflate them with the general vulgarity, but overall, as a country, we have been hit too hard for too long, undermining shared achievements and exacerbating frustrations.

This is a major obstacle to our country’s rejuvenation.