SPAIN:
Zapatero Takes the Helm, Pledges to Turn Country Around
Analysis by Alicia Fraerman
MADRID, Apr 16 (IPS) - Spain's Parliament officially voted Friday to put socialist José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero at the helm of the government, a move that goes beyond a simple change of the political party in power: it could mean the economic and political transformation of the country and the relaunch of international social democracy.
The Zapatero government is expected to follow a progressive agenda, with impacts that will be felt in all spheres of Spanish life, in international relations and, ideologically, within the Socialist International (SI).
The new governing power, the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE), is a member of the SI and this year celebrates its 125th anniversary and will bring SI leaders from all over the world to Spain. Most are likely to keep clear of British Prime Minister Tony Blair (whose Labour Party is also an SI member) for his backing of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
Outgoing prime minister José María Aznar also supported the invasion, against the wishes of the vast majority of the Spanish public, and sent 1,300 troops.
That, paired with the Mar. 11 train-bombings that killed almost 200 people in Madrid - the work of Islamic extremists believed to have al-Qaeda links - cost Aznar's conservative Popular Party (PP) the elections.
Zapatero stands firm in his promise to bring home the Spanish troops from Iraq if the United States does not hand over authority to the United Nations.
The pledges Zapatero made in parliament Thursday and Friday - and which will be implemented beginning Saturday, when he will be sworn in by King Juan Carlos - created optimism among trade unions and civil society groups, and the nationalist parties that added the votes necessary for a victory in the first-round parliamentary vote.
Two elements of the new prime minister's discourse seem to have triggered this reaction.
First were the specific commitments in terms of democracy, anti-terrorism efforts, education, international relations, environment, women's rights and the rights of sexual minorities.
Second is Zapatero's willingness to negotiate, which helped him reach agreements with the parties to the PSOE's left and with the nationalists from Catalonia, Canary Islands, Aragon and Galicia, and to maintain a cordial dialogue with the moderate, independence-seeking Basques.
Alone, the PSOE was nine votes short of an absolute majority in Parliament - necessary for Zapatero's designation as prime minister in the first round vote and for passing laws during his four-year term in office.
Faced with the strong opposition of Aznar's PP, the second most voted party, Zapatero redoubled his contacts and agreements with the rest of the parties that have parliamentary representation.
In the 350-seat lower house, the PSOE has 164 deputies, the PP 148, the moderate Catalonian nationalist Convergencia i Unio (CiU) 10, the also independence-seeking Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) eight, and the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) seven.
The United Left (IU, anchored by the Communist Party) has five deputies, the nationalist Canaries Coalition (CC) has three, the nationalist Galician Bloc (BG) has two, and the remaining parties, - moderate nationalists - each have one: Aragon Junta (CHA), the Basque Eusko Alkartasuna (EA) and, from Navarra, Nafarroa Bai (NA-BAI).
Zapatero won 183 votes on Friday: all of his party's 164, and those of the IU, CC, BG, CHA and ERC. The 148 lawmakers of the PP voted against him, and the CiU, EA, PNV and NA-BAI abstained.
A key aspect of his commitment was the pledge to take up the demands of nationalist movements to reform the 1979 constitution. Some groups want the reforms to expand the jurisdiction of Spain's autonomous communities, and others want to consecrate the right to self-determination - even independence.
These demands were resoundingly rejected by Aznar's outgoing government, leaving no room for negotiation. Zapatero, in contrast, believes the constitutional reform should be addressed as soon as possible.
But the new prime minister sets indisputable conditions: respect for the existing constitutional mechanisms in carrying out the changes and the building of consensus "for a concrete and limited reform."
Among the modifications proposed by the socialist leader, some that stand out are the elimination of gender discrimination in the royal succession (which currently favours males), and the reform of the Senate to make it representative of Spain's 17 autonomous communities.
Zapatero also proposes the inclusion in the constitution of a reference to the forthcoming European constitution "as a solemn sign of our definitive commitment to Europe."
One of the most conflictive issues during Aznar's term in office was relations with the nationalist parties, and especially with those that govern the Basque Country and Catalonia.
Zapatero has promised to meet with the 17 presidents of the autonomous communities before July, and anticipated that he favours translating the European constitution, expected to be approved by Jun. 30, into Catalan, Basque and Gallego, which, like Spanish, are the country's official languages.
The new prime minister also promised to halt the diversion of water from the Ebro River, which begins in the Pyrenees and flows into the Mediterranean Sea - a demand of the Catalonian community that has the backing of environmental organisations.
This was the first time that a candidate to prime minister laid out environmental issues before Parliament, such as the Ebro question, "compliance with the Kyoto Protocol (on climate change), the fight against land speculation and the gradual phase-out of nuclear energy," Teo Oberhuber, coordinator of Ecologistas en Acción, told IPS.
The environmental organisation will remain alert, however, "because sometimes politicians promise but don't deliver," said Oberhuber.
But the activist said he is optimistic that the new government will make important positive changes, unlike "what we suffered these past eight years" under the PP administration.
A similar opinion is heard from Cándido Méndez, secretary-general of the General Union of Workers (UGT), one of Spain's two biggest labour organisations.
"It is a very positive thing that in a straightforward, direct and very understandable way, he unequivocally stakes his bets on social dialogue and proposes a state pact to resolve the immigration problem, through the social and labour integration of the immigrants," he said.
Spain's other main labour union, Confederation of Workers Commissions (CCOO, of communist origins), underscored Zapatero's discourse with respect to a rich social dialogue aimed at putting an end to the "scandalous and unjustified precariousness of Spain's labour market."
Another matter stressed by the new prime minister, and applauded by civil society groups, is the proposed modification of the Civil Code.
The changes would include a broad law against domestic violence and another on the rights of homosexuals and transsexuals.
The Civil Code will be modified to "recognise, on equal footing, their right to matrimony with the consequent effects in terms of inheritance, labour rights and social security protections," said Zapatero.
With respect to terrorism, the incoming government's aim is to achieve consensus amongst all democratic groups - a radical change from the approach of the PP, which closed the doors on dialogue with moderate Basque nationalist groups on what to do about the terrorist group ETA.
These positions and the tone of the newly designated head of government are cutting him an important profile in the communications media.
Zapatero could become "one of the stand-out leaders of the new European centre-left and an ideological reference point at least as powerful as the 'Third Way'" of Britain's Blair, said Miguel Angel Liso, head of the Zeta publishing group, based in Catalonia.
Until recently Zapatero was considered by many a rather weak figure, and was expected to be handily defeated by the PP - at least that is what the polls said a week before the Mar. 14 elections.
In his address to Parliament, he provided some insight into the origins of his political views, citing his grandfather, Juan Rodríguez Lozano. Just minutes before facing the firing squad of the Francisco Franco dictatorship, Rodríguez Lozano wrote that he maintained an "infinite longing for peace, a love for what is good, and the social improvement of the poor."
(END/2004)
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