Alfonso Guerra This Tuesday, the protagonist was in a law school classroom at a conference focused on this topic “Transition” In it, he talked about the important consensus that exists between … The Spanish political parties of the time approved the 1978 constitution.
During his speech, the former Deputy Prime Minister touched on the current political situation, as he believes that “Consensus cannot be reached because the two main political parties, the Socialist Workers’ Party and the People’s Party, are at loggerheads. “Each of these parties is doing everything they can to prevent the other party from governing.”
Regarding the debate on whether the Constitution needs to be reformed, Guerra said: “I am in favor of reforms in the constitution, not the constitution. There are those who talk about the need to amend the election law. I think we have arrived at a very good electoral system, but it has given a very strange result in politics. At this time, the national political agenda is determined by the party that received 1.6% of the vote».
On the other hand, Guerra highlighted the fact that “It is not true that the left made the constitution against the right, but rather with the right. In addition, the nationalists joined. Now the political parties do not have their own project and prevent those who disagree with them from ruling. I believe in agreements between parties, and this can only be done by appealing to the spirit of the Constitution».
As for the former Deputy Prime Minister, One of the problems that the Constitution did not solve is the model of cooperation between the state and the independent regions. “With the crises that Spain has witnessed in recent years, such as the pandemic, the Valencia disaster, or the Canary Islands volcanic eruption, yes. There was a confrontation between the state and autonomy Without respecting the Constitution at any time.
For Alfonso Guerra, one of the keys to why the 1978 constitution is the best constitution Spain has had to date is that “All the political parties that participated in drafting the texts had the ability to reach consensus because each of them gave up certain things.. If we all give up some part, equality can be achieved. Agreement has been reached. For the first time, the constitution was a text for everyone and not to incite some against others. In the end, there were only six opposing votes.
Guerra also highlighted that one of the main things that distinguished the 1978 Constitution from previous constitutions was that “in the last two centuries, everyone who came to power oppressed others and The administration did not succeed because those who had been there for two years were expelled and replaced by other people. With the current constitution, the SWP and the Popular Party were able to govern and there was no such administrative problem.
Sleepless nights
One of the most interesting parts of Alfonso Guerra’s talk is when he recalled those early mornings when he and Fernando Abril Martorell They reviewed some articles of the constitution that had to be approved the next morning. “Adolfo Suarez asked me to have dinner at Jose Luis’ restaurant. That night we reviewed a total of 25 articles of the Constitution. Of the eight people who participated in that meeting, four from the Christian Democratic Union and four from the Socialist Party, only two are still alive today.
Guerra also appealed to his sense of humor when he recalled the time when law professors were drafting texts of the Constitution. “Since they never finished and reviewed the texts until the last comma, Fernando Abril Martorell and I went in to review the different articles. Fernando and I were the only ones up at 5am». Moreover, he points out that during those long nights of reviewing the Constitution they were not able to eat any dinner because one of the members of that committee went out to buy food, and when one of the journalists saw it, they decided to hold all the meetings behind closed doors and without leaving that room.
Alfonso Guerra concluded by saying that he was confident that the constitution would last “at least another 47 years.” He has resisted and will resist for many more years. “Now it depends on whether future generations choose agreements instead of confrontation.”
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