Dangerous times

A dark cloud is moving towards Spain and unless action is taken soon the country could move into some rather uncertain times which could damage the economy and its standing in the world. The stalemate election result on Sunday underlined the fact that the country is divided politically and yesterday the three parties which support independence from Spain in Catalonia announced that they had reached an accord which will allow them to form a new regional government. Unfortunately, the country will all but shut down for Christmas tomorrow, leaving weeks of uncertainty and it must be remembered that Spain does not have a government and it looks highly unlikely that it will ever have one unless a new election is called. The only sensible option is a coalition government between the Partido Popular (centre right) and the Spanish Socialist Party (centre left). Bringing two parties together which are poles apart on many key issues will not be easy, but it has to be remembered that the Conservatives were in coalition with the Liberal Democrats in Britain for five years. A grand coalition for the good of Spain is really the only answer especially as the "Catalan issue" has come back to haunt the political mainstream. Otherwise a new election will have to be called which of course has its own dangers as well. It is not outrageous to think that we could have a repeat of Sunday´s election result once again. Dangerous times call for courageous decisions.