Constitutional debate

The Constitution of 1978 has been of great service to Spaniards when it comes to guaranteeing liberties and power-sharing, including in the regions, and has allowed for different options to govern without breaking the co-existence. But that doesn’t mean that its writing is inscribed in stone, or that it can never be touched. A community is based on the consent of those who form it. For that reason, the growing number of people dissatisfied with the Constitution (52.5 percent) cannot be ignored, nor the fact that two-thirds of the population are unhappy with the way democracy is functioning, according to the latest study done by the Center for Sociological Research (CIS). While only 6.5 percent “preferred” an authoritarian regime, the majority still hold out hope that democracy can be fixed.

But what kind of reforms are needed? It is easy to come together and agree on equality with regard to the question of whether a man or a woman can serve as head of government. But there are a lot of discrepancies between proponents of a more centralized government and those who support maintaining the regions or creating a federal state, in which the Senate would play a key role. Socialist leader Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba suggested that public health should be included as a guarantee along with the other fundamental, specifically protected rights, instead of listing it — as is the case right now — among the main guiding principles of policy.

It is not easy to convince all the defenders of Spain’s political party system in the manner the Constitution describes it — “an essential instrument for political participation” — to welcome initiatives that have been brought up to broaden the channels for more citizen participation, and to open the door for a direct election of lawmakers. Other delicate issues are the clauses concerning the electoral system in which the Constitution establishes the provinces as constituencies and sets a mandatory quota on the number of deputies for each province, favoring size in hectares over the number of inhabitants.

The Constitution can back up whatever proposed law might be introduced

Whatever the issues that are brought up, it appears that the time has come to open a debate on constitutional reform. With the exception of Senate President Pío García Escudero, who understands that the time may be ripe for such discussions, many Popular Party (PP) officials have shown little interest. In an article published in Thursday’s La Vanguardia, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said that “the current co-existence is covered under the current constitutional framework.” Or in other words, he is saying that the Constitution can back up whatever proposed law might be introduced. Reforming a good part of the clauses in the Constitution would require a referendum. So it must be pointed out that 20 million Spaniards between the ages of 18 and 52 have never been able to vote on whether they agree or not with such fundamental laws. The economic crisis is not a valid excuse to postpone the debate; in fact, the 1978 Constitution was drafted in the middle of a previous crisis. The only condition necessary is to search for broad consensus — similar to what took place 34 years ago.