Unprecedented tension in Spanish politics

USPA NEWS - The change that Spain has experienced in the last three years has been imperceptible to the Spaniards while it was taking place, but very important when viewed with perspective. For the first time in the history of Spain, the country has a social-communist government and lives these days in a climate of political tension that threatens to divide society into two antagonistic and irreconcilable blocks.

Spain is a country given to civil war. Already in the 19th century, it experienced three civil wars and, in the 20th century, the civil war that gave way to the Franco dictatorship. When Spaniards are asked today if they fear a civil confrontation in the near future, all without exception deny it. However, in Parliament the tone of the debates has risen and has led to insults and disqualifications between parliamentary groups. Today, in Spanish parliamentary life, it is not important to be right nor, frequently, is the well-being of citizens important. What really matters is getting a good headline in the newspapers or the opening in the television news and, as a consequence, many like it on social networks. Politics is no longer a public service but a job that politicians want to keep as long as possible at whatever cost.

In the last few weeks, all the red lines have been crossed in the Spanish Parliament. On May 28, the second vice-president of the social-communist government accused the formation of the far-right Vox, third group in Parliament for number of seats, of wanting to carry out a coup. A day earlier, a spokeswoman for the conservative Popular Party accused the second vice president of being the son of a terrorist. Public speaking has disappeared from the speeches from the floor of the chamber, politics has died and the debates are today an incessant crossing of insults and accusations that attack the personal lives of parliamentarians. Arguments are no longer presented, now only seeks to discredit the contrary. The result is appalling: before the pandemic, during the first seven months of its mandate, the Spanish government approved 25 decrees, a legislative figure that comes into force before Parliament approves it, thus setting a record in recent Spanish history.

For the parliamentary opposition, the forms of government are absolutist. He criticizes that the social-communist government of Pedro Sánchez tries to govern without the control of Parliament and ensures that the president makes decisions according to what is convenient for him at all times. The coronavirus pandemic is an example: the Government has taken measures and its opponents, giving the impression of not knowing how to deal with the pandemic. A week before the state of alarm ends and Spain returns to normal, it can be said that the containment of the virus has been achieved by the discipline of the Spaniards with the restrictions imposed in the confinement.

Attack on the Monarchy

After the announcement of the Prosecutor's Office that it will open an investigation into King Emeritus, upon detecting a possible crime of money laundering related to the commissions that the monarch allegedly received from Saudi Arabia for the construction of the high-speed train (AVE in his Spanish acronym) to Mecca, the far left group Podemos has asked a parliamentary commission to investigate the previous monarch. The extraordinary thing is that, for the first time in democracy, ministers of the Spanish Government have positioned themselves in favor of investigating King Emeritus, whom they openly criticize while the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, remains silent. For many Spanish political analysts, the attitude of the ministers critical of the previous King seeks to weaken the Monarchy as part of a political strategy whose final objective would be to expel the Royal Family and establish the third republic in Spain.

Meanwhile, the Spaniards seem to be moving away from the politicians, although their positions are divided into two camps that threaten to confront each other on the streets. The recent pandemic, which has caused an economic and social debacle that translates into a forecast of unemployment close to 20%, a collapse of the economy of around 12% and hundreds of thousands of Spaniards dependent on subsidies and soup kitchens social, keeps society anesthetized, more concerned now to regain mobility, social relations and vacations, than the policy that their representatives in Parliament carry out. The future of Spain is in the air.