ANALYSIS OF THE EUROPEAN ELECTION CAMPAIGNS IN SPAIN

European Elections June 2009 The forthcoming European Elections running between the 4th and 7th of June are the largest ever elections taking place in a coordinated way across nation states. European Alternatives sees a potential in the European project to develop a politics beyond the nation state that answers to the demands of globalisation. We are producing analyses of the campaigns such as they are being run in several nation states to assess the progress and shortcomings of the transnationalisation of political discourse. Here is the analysis by Belén Góngora Martínez of the situation in Spain. Weekly press reviews are available on the right. CONTEXT SPAIN AND THE EU Spain has always been considered as an enthusiastic member of the European Union, and similar to the rest of the Western European countries in political, economic and cultural terms. Spain’s European credentials are not questioned: Spain is a truly democratic, modern and European country. It seems now that what the Bilbao writer Miguel de Unamuno asked himself at the beginning of the 20h century -‘Am I European? Am I modern? And my conscience responds: no; you are not European, that which they call European, you are not modern, that which they call modern’- belongs to the remote past, already overcome and forgotten. It seems now that this ‘national’ angst to understand what ‘Spain’ really is and its position in ‘Europe’ is an anachronistic and unnecessary meditation. However, in an increasingly unified and interconnected world, where the notions of ‘nation’ and ‘state’ are being challenged, this enduring quest for national (and also transnational) identity has been intensified. Moreover, in the case of Spain, economic, political and social transformations in the last decades of the twentieth century might have added some ‘schizophrenic’ notes to this undertaking. And this disorientation of identity cannot be separated from the process of ‘Europeanization’ and transformation of Spanish society into a modern, industrialized and market society similar to its ‘European neighbours’. Today, Spanish identity cannot be defined without any reference to ‘Europe’. A new ‘national identity’ has been constructed in Spain since the transition to democracy in the 1970s, and Spaniards emotionally embraced the concepts of ‘democracy, modernization and Europe’, which were missing for centuries. ‘To be in Europe’ was considered as the safeguard against repressive and authoritarian regimes, as the solution to Spanish ‘exceptionalism’ and marginalization, as a ‘national project’, which would unite all Spaniards towards a common and prosperous future. However, despite all expectations, democracy, modernization and ‘Europe’ did not help to create a ‘cohesive Spanish identity’. Questions related to the existence of a ‘Spanish nation’ and the ‘disintegration of Spain’ are still subjects of passionate political and intellectual debates. Indeed, the institutional framework of the European Union has ‘undermine[d] the traditional identity among sovereignty, territory, nationality’, which has provided the opportunity to stateless nations to participate in the institutions and then to foster their regional identities. Today ‘Europe’ not only refers to democracy, modernization and peace, but also diversity and respect for this diversity. Although the ‘national question’ in Spain remains unsolved, there is no doubt that ‘Europe’ has been a powerful ‘Other’ in the construction of Spanish identity. To sum up, ‘Europe’ has had a power influence in the creation, transformation and consolidation of Spanish identity. Moreover, the accession to the EU has had positive effects on Spanish politics, economy and society. Therefore, it is important to analyse the ideas and conceptions about Europe during the weeks prior to the European Parliament (EP) Elections. SPAIN AND THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ELECTIONS 2009 The next EP elections will take place on Sunday 7 June 2009, to choose the Spain’s 50 MEPs. The election campaign started more than a week ago and different events have been taken place all over Spain to mobilise an increasingly politically demotivated population. The most repeated words in the media about the EP elections during these weeks are: disaffection, demotivation, lack of information, lack of a real debate about Europe. It is said that ‘mobilisation’ is the key word in the election campaign, to make people aware of the significance of the elections and to increase the participation during the election day, which according to public surveys, will be less than 40%. Political parties say that their focus is to encourage all potential voters to use their vote in historical elections. Taking into account that Spain has a rather weak civil society and political culture, and that political disaffection seems to be a cultural phenomenon, one would expect that political parties and civil society get involved in raising awareness about the European elections and its significance for Europe’s future. One would also expect that people and interested parties would discuss transnational issues, such as economic crises, migration, climate change, security, and the role of Europe in an increasingly interconnected world, and give these matters the suitable place in a democratic institutional framework. However, this is not the case in Spain and it is not surprising then that domestic affairs are dominant during the election campaign in Spain. It is not surprising either that domestic issues, such as corruption or political scandals, prevail over the real issues at stake during these elections. 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