The effects of the economic crisis, the discredit into which politics has fallen and the need to change its model of development and its structure as a state are the three issues which seem likely to mark the political debate in Spain in the lead-up to the European elections.
The two major Spanish parties, which have governed the country alternately since the return of democracy, share an original sin. They were jointly responsible for the model of development applied in Spain, a model dominated by the construction industry and by the speculation and corruption that have grown up around it.
"Austerity alone, without active policies to change the model of development and boost the real economy, is an error"
This is the origin of the debts that led to the need to bailout the banking system. The 'austericide' propitiated by European policies has done the rest. Austerity alone, without active policies to change the model of development and boost the real economy, is an error.
Bailing out the banks but neglecting the people who have helped to re-float them with their taxes is another serious error. That is why the debate is focused on criticising Europe, which is being presented as the 'mother of all disasters'.
Moreover, the current institutional structure of the Spanish state suffers from serious inefficiency problems. The first is that the constitution and statutes of regional autonomy drawn up before Spain joined the European Union are still in force.
The second is that a model of devolution initially intended to recognise the historical national identities of Catalonia, the Basque country and Galicia has become distorted. Devolution has been generalised, resulting in a distortion of the political autonomy that should have been achieved with the harmonious construction of a new type of Spanish sovereignty for the post-Franco era: a federal system.
The outlook is made even more complicated by the fact that the Basque country and Catalonia in particular have an economic structure that is very different from that of the rest of Spain. Between them they account for most of the country’s production economy. They need distinct fiscal, energy and industry policies and a way to fit their institutional and socio-political peculiarities into Europe.
Those peculiarities include the unique tax system applied in the Basque country and Navarre, which is sanctioned as an autonomous tax system by the European court of justice in Luxembourg, along with cultural and policing competences arising from the existence of official languages other than Spanish in the three regions mentioned.
It is to be hoped that the electoral debate will focus on these issues and that solutions will emerge. The first solution needs to take the form of a commitment to profoundly transform the fabric of the Spanish economy. EU employment, social affairs and inclusion commissioner László Andor has stated that such a change is essential if the problem of unemployment in Spain is to be solved.
Similarly, Spain needs to find a more democratic response to its territorial problems. Denying their existence will not solve them. Dialogue and a setting that properly reflects its plurality in the context of European institutions must be considered as at least part of the solution.