Ruling Popular Party rejects new Socialist chief’s call for federal state

The Socialist Party’s proposal to reform the Constitution to restructure Spain as a federal state with even greater devolved powers did not sit well with either Popular Party (PP) conservatives or the United Left (IU) coalition.

The toughest criticism of PSOE leader Pedro Sánchez’s ideas, which were published in EL PAÍS on Sunday, came from PP secretary general María Dolores de Cospedal. “What he is proposing is changing the state model, changing the Constitution, not a mere reform,” said De Cospedal, who is also regional premier of Castilla-La Mancha.

“The secretary general of the Socialists does not explain what the reform will entail,” she added.

“What Spaniards want to hear now is why the Socialist Party voted in favor of the ‘ley de consultas’ [a Catalan law unilaterally authorizing the region to hold a referendum on self-rule on November 9], which is unconstitutional,” De Cospedal continued. “The secretary general is proposing resolving [the issue of Catalan independence] with a reform, the details of which he fails to explain. A federal reform to change the state model involves drafting a new Constitution. If Sánchez’s answer to those who fail to abide by the Constitution is ‘let’s give you a tailor-made Constitution,’ it doesn’t seem to me like the best option for a party in government.”

The secretary general of the Socialists does not explain what the reform will entail” María Dolores de Cospedal

The PP spokesman in parliament, Alfonso Alonso, noted that Sánchez’s proposal was nothing new and that his predecessor Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba had already said the same thing in an attempt to champion a middle-of-the-road solution between the centralizing PP government and the pro-independence tendencies of regional nationalists.

“We don’t know whether we are going to become the United States of Spain or what; it’s really hard to say something about these vague proposals,” added Alonso.

Meanwhile, IU coordinator Cayo Lara underscored that his coalition had been defending the idea of a federal state “for a very long time.” He also claimed that the time has come to update the Spanish Constitution, which dates from 1978, because 70 percent of Spaniards did not vote for it.

Lara added that what he would like to see was “a republican state” rather than a constitutional monarchy, and for the Spanish nation to be consulted about its own wishes.

The United Left says that it has been defending the idea of a federal state “for a very long time”

In his article, Sánchez wrote: “The state of autonomous regions needs to upgrade its constitutional provisions to incorporate a federal perspective, to assign powers clearly, to ensure a predictable and sufficient line of financing, to profoundly reform the makeup and functions of the Senate, to recognize the singularity of some of our regions, to encourage reciprocal loyalty, and to guarantee equal rights to all citizens.”

“It is true that some people get angry at the thought that this reform is being proposed with Catalonia specifically in mind,” he continued. “But even if that were so, it would still be justified as long as no region is favored over another one or discriminated against. The Socialist Party – and millions of Spaniards, I am sure – cannot conceive of, and do not want, a Spain without Catalonia or a Catalonia that is a part of Spain but feels uncomfortable, misunderstood and dissatisfied.”