Spain: an example for Ukraine and Russia

Spanish politicians promise a "complete renewal" of democracy. And they even do something for this

Spain escaped a serious political crisis - after the referendum on the independence of Catalonia was canceled on November 9 . However, the problems of the Spanish state are associated not only with the separatism of some of its regions. The country spoke about the need for a complete renewal of democracy - the so -called regeneration democratica. What is meant and what can this process turn out for Spain?

Spanish democracy itself is relatively young. It is believed that it was installed at the turn of the 70s and 80s of the last century, after General Franco's authoritarian regime has gone past. Under him there was only one legal party - the Frankist National Movement, and the opposition forces were underground and were persecuted by the regime, like any dissent. The process of democratization of the Spanish society was relatively quickly and painless. But over the years of the economic crisis that covered Spain in 2008 and continued so far, it turned out that the situation in the country is far from cloudless and requires serious reforms.

It is primarily about corruption, which, according to local political scientists, has acquired threatening scale. Says the observer of the Madrid newspaper ABC Alvaro Delgado Gal :

- I want to highlight only two aspects. First of all, these are numerous corruption scandals with the participation of party functionaries. They led to the loss of confidence in the population to political parties, as evidenced by polls by public opinion. People are sure that all politicians are corrupt. Another big problem is the lack of proper control over the activities of the administration of all levels. At the leading administrative posts, after winning the election, the functionaries of a party who surround themselves with “their” people find themselves. All this is a nutritious environment for corruption.

Updating democracy is vital for our society

Indeed, corruption covered all structures - from the mayor's mayor to be to the central government. So, in the misuse of party funds on an especially large scale , the former treasurer of the ruling People’s Party Luis Barsenas is now accused, and the functionaries of the Socialist Workers' Party in Andalusia, where they head the local administration, came across the expiration of funds intended to support the unemployed. This is not counting hundreds of other, less high -profile affairs. To put an end to such a situation and is called upon a "democratic renewal." Says the Spanish politician, former governor of the Madrid region Esperans Agirre :

- The update of democracy is vital for our society. If we do not want the first successes of our economy to overcome the crisis due to the atmosphere of corruption reigning in the country, I think we need to update democracy established more than 30 years ago.

What exactly will the "update" be? We are talking about a number of laws - some of them have already been developed, others have only to be considered. The first of them is the law on the control of the activities of senior officials. It deprives, in particular, this category of civil servants to work part -time in private companies or engage in individual labor activity. Their representative expenses should be limited and under constant control, they are required to annually give their income publicity, and after completing work in the responsible post, their property, movable and real estate, as well as financial assets must be thoroughly verified. The goal is to find out if this face had some additional income, in addition to salary. In addition, officials will now be forced to resign emergency if a criminal case starts against them.

Prior to this, the so -called "transparency law" was already adopted in Spain, which obliges to give wide publicity all activities, including financial, both state and public organizations. Says the deputy of the Spanish parliament Jose Antonio Bermudes :

- This is one of the laws that will help in the process of "democratic renewal." First of all, we are talking about a cure for corruption, since corruption flourishes in an atmosphere of secrecy, and with universal publicity and control it has much more difficult. This law will allow citizens to feel themselves involved in state affairs and will help restore the lost trust in managerial structures and the system as a whole. But the main thing is that the new law puts a reliable barrier to the irresponsible rule and the waste of budget funds.

Another important law is located in the process of discussion - on the control of the financial activities of parties. They are invited to report for all their income and expenses in the Accounts Chamber and Parliament. Parties are prohibited from receiving sponsorship from legal entities, and banks cannot be written off debts on loans issued to parties. Help from individuals is limited, and sponsors cannot be connected by business relations with administrative bodies under the control of the party that they help.

The mayor should be elected by the population, and not appointed parties representatives who received places in the city hall

Another measure of "updates of democracy" is direct elections of mayors. The party that won the election or the coalition of parties that formed the ruling majority in the self -government bodies still appointed them. Here is a statement on this topic of the Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rahya :

- I believe that the mayor should be elected by the population, and not be appointed representatives of parties who received places in the city hall. On this topic, we will conduct discussions with representatives of the opposition in parliament in order to achieve consensus.

Among other measures of “update” - a decrease in the number of deputies of different levels and higher officials with inviolability, that is, those for the involvement of which a special resolution is required to the court. In addition, it is planned to strengthen criminal liability for official crimes: corruption, the use of official position, for example, for applying for relatives and acquaintances, providing profitable contracts without a competition, and so on.

It is still difficult to judge how successful Spanish reforms turn out to be, but their experience can probably be useful outside Spain - for example, in Ukraine, where after the Euromaidan a lot talks about the need to cleanse government structures from thieves and corrupt officials. And over time, perhaps in Russia.