Eduardo González
The plenary session of the Congress approved on May 26 a non-binding resolution from the Socialist Parliamentary Group regarding the 40th Anniversary of Spain’s entry into the European Union, after overcoming amendments from the People’s Party (PP) and Vox that attempted to eliminate the “irrevocable” nature of Spain’s membership in the European Union.
The text, ultimately the result of a compromise amendment between the Socialist Group and the Basque Group (EAJ-PNV), and published last week in the Official Gazette of the Spanish Parliament (BOCG), urges the Government to “reaffirm and promote Spain’s commitment to the European project as a guarantor of democracy, the rule of law, human rights, security, and economic stability,” to “express its gratitude to those who made Spain’s accession to the then European Communities possible and to those who have worked over these decades to consolidate and strengthen it,” and to “irrevocably declare Spain’s membership in the European Union.”
The remainder of the approved non-binding resolution calls on the Government to support in the European Council “the draft reform of the Treaties to strengthen European sovereignty and independence, granting the Union greater capacity for action in matters of foreign policy, security, defense, energy, industry, and the triple ecological, digital, and social transition, while guaranteeing social and territorial cohesion and the principle of subsidiarity.”
It also calls for “promoting, within the Community institutions, the full development of the Treaties and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union in relation to the regions and peoples of the European Union,” for “promoting the necessary regulatory changes to strengthen the role of the regions and equivalent institutions so that they have their own voice within the European institutional framework,” and for “promoting, together with the other Member States, the achievement of the recognition of Basque, Galician, and Catalan as official languages of the European Union.” Both this point and the one concerning “regions and peoples” were introduced by the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), with the difference that, in the Basque group’s amendment, the term “nations” was used instead of “regions.”
For its part, the People’s Parliamentary Group introduced numerous amendments to the text, which were not adopted. In one of the proposals, the point concerning the reform of the Treaties within the European Council was removed, and in its place, a call was made to “submit any position of the Government regarding a possible reform of the Treaties of the European Union to prior debate in the Spanish Parliament, guaranteeing the defense of the national interest and respect for the principle of subsidiarity.”
The People’s Party also requested “the prior participation of the Spanish Parliament in any agreement relating to Gibraltar that affects the national interests of Spain” and urged “promoting the use of the Spanish language in the European Union, coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the official status of the Spanish language, and strengthening its use in the main EU institutions.”
For its part, Vox proposed the removal of the phrase “as guarantor of democracy, the rule of law, human rights, security, and economic stability” and urged “the Government and Spanish representatives in the European Parliament to defend, above all, the national interest in their foreign policy within the EU institutions.”
Both the People’s Party (PP) and Vox agreed on the need to eliminate the “irrevocable nature of Spain’s membership in the European Union.” Instead, Vox advocated for “a European Union of sovereign nations, respectful of the identity, history, and decision-making capacity of each state, focused on protecting borders, security, freedom, prosperity, and defending the common interests of the European peoples.” The PP, on the other hand, defended “Spain’s membership in the European Union as a firm and irrevocable decision adopted based on the majority will of Spanish society.”