The Diplomat in Spain

Enrique Miguel Sánchez Motos

Civil Administrator of the State

Imagine democracy in Spain limited to recognizing the right of the citizens to “participate in activities, in bodies of government and representation, to exercise the right to vote, to be electors and eligible, to be informed of the composition of managing bodies, of decisions made, activities implemented and the economic situation”. Would that be proof enough of Spain being a democracy?

The Cubans, the citizens of the former USSR, those of the communist China, those of the Nazi Germany and those of any dictatorship of the 20^th century are entitled to those rights. Having said that, those rights are nothing if they cannot become effective through a political legal framework that guarantees them. Well, those are the simple rights that the current Law of Parties of 2022 guarantees in its article 8 for the members of any political party. On the contrary, the Constitution recognizes, in its articles 14 to 38, an extensive and detailed list of the Rights and Freedoms of the citizens, without which real democracy is impossible. The key to any democracy is in the firmness with which the freedom of expression and opinion of the citizens is recognized. But it is not enough to recognize it, it is necessary to guarantee it in order to avoid that it prevents, in fact, its exercise, as it happens in Cuba and China, or as it happened in the USSR, the Nazi Germany and in all the dictatorships that the world has witnessed.

What is the key instrument guaranteeing political democracy? The Constitution establishes it in its article 6: “Political parties take part in the shaping and expression of the popular will and are a fundamental instrument for political participation. Their creation and the exercise of their activity are free within the respect for the Constitution and the law. Their internal structure and functioning will have to be democratic”. Would a country in which the existence of political parties is not allowed be recognized as democratic? The answer is a forceful NO. Therefore, democracy requires, at least, the freedom of expression and creation of political parties.

Within the current framework of the parties, which way is left for those members who disagree on deep matters regarding the party’s stance? They cannot create currents of opinion. They cannot organize to raise objections facing key mistakes of their party. Could one think that there have been no members of parties, and even members of parliament and senators of PP, who radically disagreed on the uses that Rajoy made of the 155? But that was not visible outside the party and, probably, not even inside of it. There was not real freedom.

The Law of Parties should help the members of parties to participate, developing the constitutional mandate according to which the internal structure and functioning of the parties must be democratic. It is evident that what it puts on record is the reality of the vote of the citizens in the election, but parties are financed, among other things, to shape and express the popular will. If they do not do it, some Agency, that of Transparency, or other, should stop the payments they receive from the public funds. We need measures that benefit the Spanish politics and the politicians that many times are pointed as people who remain silent to continue to receive their prebends and future pensions. The 21^st century needs a political improvement. Spain is facing very serious specific problems such as separatism and inequality between territories. These must be confronted urgently and firmly. The photograph of those politicians that choose to remain silent can turn yellow very soon.

06/07/2018. © All rights reserved.