"TREMBLE, Aznar - Catalonia will not pardon you".
Nineteenth century style rhetoric still is still in vogue in Spanish politics, and this is the current slogan of Catalan nationalist supporters. They hold the key to the door of the next Spanish government after Sunday's inconclusive elections, and are sending out a clear message.
They are going to make Mr Jose Maria Aznar sweat a great deal before they decide whether or not they will let him form the next administration.
The leaders of Convergencia i Unio (CiU), which has the 16 seats Mr Aznar's centre right Partido Popular (PP) needs to assume office, use less colourful language. But their message is the same and it was getting tougher yesterday. We don't see any substantial changes in their policies which would allow us to support them," spokesman Mr Pere Esteve said yesterday. "The only difference since Sunday night is that they have stopped criticising us. That's all."
The sins which Catalonia may not pardon range from vulgar insults to serious policy differences. The slogan at the PP celebrations on Sunday night was "Pujol, dwarf, learn to speak Spanish". This is a nasty reference both to the small stature of the CiU leader, Mr Jordi Pujol, and to his preference for his native Catalan language. The chant was hushed by PP officials as the news sunk in that the party was going to need Mr Pujol's votes.
Mr Aznar was searingly critical of Mr Pujol for supporting Mr Felipe Gonzalez's minority administration now he wants him, to support his own. But Mr Rodrigo Rato, the man Mr Aznar has appointed to negotiate with other parties, insisted yesterday that "the PP has nothing to rectify. These negotiations are about the future, not the past."
He could not explain how the two parties could agree about the key issues like the financing of Catalan institutions (the CiU wants more, the PP wants to pay less), the status of the Spanish administration in Catalonia, and of the Catalan language. CiU will want all these issues resolved in its favour if it is to support the PP yesterday, Mr Rato could only say that he had "no concrete offers to make at this stage."
Initial discussions between the parties will open tomorrow. While no one could have expected such a difficult alliance to be formed overnight, every passing hour brings more suggestions that Mr Aznar may not be able to form a government, and new elections may have to be called. The continuing uncertainty was reflected in a further drop of five points in the Madrid stock exchange yesterday, following Monday's record fall of more than 16 points.
Other minority nationalist parties also polled well elsewhere, with the Bloque National Gallego making its parliamentary debut with two deputies for Gallicia, and the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) comfortably holding its five seats. However, Herri Batasuna, which supports Basque independence and the terrorist organisation ETA, slipped from 206,000 to 181,000 votes, confirming a steady decline while holding its two (abstentionist) seats.
Mr Carlos Rodriguez, a member of HB's national council, told The Irish Times last night that this decline would not force any reevaluation of its backing for ETA. "We regard it as a sufficient vote to continue our current political project," he said. "We changed policy internally last year, and since we lost only 6,000 votes relative to last year's provincial elections, we consider this result a vote of confidence."
Those new policies were reflected in ETA's killing of a Basque policeman, a PNV member, last Monday. He was buried yesterday under the Basque flag.
PNV members sang Eusko Gudariak, the Civil War anthem of the Basque soldier, which ETA claims as its own.