At forty-two winters, it's time for at least a lifting. A rejuvenation operation that adapts it to the new times. And it is necessary, because that December 29, 1978, the date on which our Constitution came into force, is far away, as far away as the black and white Spain that was moving to the color of Democracy.
With a country, for the better, different from that of almost half a century ago, constitutional reform seems inevitable. The Spanish people know this well, different from the one called to the polls on December 6, the date of the referendum on a constitutional text that was born from political agreement, mutual renunciations and the desire for freedom, "freedom, freedom, without anger freedom" that was breathed in this Spain of mine, this Spain of ours. Hymns of the transition that, unfortunately, resurfaced in years of terrorism, finally defeated with the union of all democrats.
A people that acted as a constituent power, having the last word on the constitutional proposal, as the Magna Carta itself recognizes by residing national sovereignty in the Spanish people, from which the powers of the State emanate. They then ratified a draft Constitution, of a country, based on the presentation prepared by the seven fathers - today the absence of constituent mothers is unthinkable - each with their political sensibility and own past, but who joined efforts to overcome differences. And they succeeded.
This is what the more than seventeen million voters who went to the polls believed. 91.81% voted in favor, and both some and others, the majority of the YES, the minority of the NO, understood that "your vote is your strength. Against no one, in favor of everyone. A vote is worth more than a thousand shouts" and allowed a Constitution to see the light that stood as the seventh, since the famous Pepa of the Cortes of Cádiz of 1812. A Constitution of 169 articles, with its additional, transitional, repealing and final provisions, and a brief preamble led by Professor Tierno Galván, where the desire for change was breathed, with proclamations to justice, freedom, democratic coexistence, human rights, solidarity or culture.
Today, a very large social majority, more than 70% of the more than forty-seven million Spaniards, did not participate in the referendum, nor in a historical and miraculous transition I would say - things of belonging to the harvest of 78, for sure. It seems more so to me in times of political confrontation, where decibels and dissent have caused politics to be seen as one of the main problems by Spaniards, as confirmed by the latest CIS survey.
An environment, together with this pandemic, that makes it difficult to carry out the deep revision that some of us would like, but that would entail the dissolution of the Courts and new elections, which I consider inappropriate at this time. A revision aimed at addressing issues such as the model of State; the famous title VIII of the territorial organization, clarifying the distribution of powers between the State and the Autonomous Communities; the conversion of certain guiding principles of social and economic policy - right to housing for example - into true fundamental rights with maximum protection and protection; the inclusion of the so-called fundamental rights of the fourth generation, such as access to computer science and the information society; in addition to other issues, such as the reform of the Upper House, our Senate, always susceptible to debate in a process where negotiation and agreement must prevail.
However, in the current situation, less ambitious changes seem more feasible, a constitutional lifting that would not require new elections in times of necessary institutional stability. Some tweaks, waiting for better times for the lyrics of consensus, that eliminate some wrinkles from the text and adjust it to reality, with a new "more social" wording of the famous 135; the inclusion of the Autonomous Communities in the constitutional statement or the reference to the European Union, without which neither Spain nor Europe can be understood today.
For this, its article 167 includes the ordinary reform procedure, but we will not find in its three sections the sense of State, the high-mindedness and responsibility that we must all participate in to improve our supreme norm. That's up to us.
Marcos Bergaz, PSOE spokesman in the Teguise City Council.
