10 signs that Spain is taking an authoritarian drift because of the left wing

@ElentirENG ES 7·19·2021 · 7:01 0

Spain is experiencing an increasingly worrying situation with regard to democratic quality and respect for individual rights and freedoms.

Spanish Parliament refuses to condemn the crimes of Nazism and Communism
The letter from more than 2,500 judges that warns the EU that Spain is moving towards "totalitarianism"

The actions of the coalition government formed by the socialists of the PSOE and the communists of Unidas Podemos is leading to a constant erosion of democratic institutions by the executive branch, a process that is reaching extremes that are unthinkable in any other country in the world. the European Union. There are ten clear sings of this authoritarian drift:

1. Violate fundamental rights and brag about it. Last week, the Constitutional Tribunal confirmed that the government violated fundamental rights - specifically freedom of movement and the right of assembly - using the health situation as an excuse. In the government not only have there been no resignations or gestures of self-criticism, but it has also bragged about it, presuming an action classified as unconstitutional by the aforementioned Tribunal.
2. Sánchez's plan to endow himself with full powers by skipping the Constitution. The announced reform of the National Security Law at the initiative of the government has caused alarm among the parliamentary opposition and critical media: it is intended to use an unconstitutional mechanism - limiting fundamental rights through ordinary law - to endow the government with extraordinary powers to which it he may appeal when it sees fit, without rendering accounts to Parliament.
3. The government does not condemn and even justify the aggressions of its associates against the opposition. Another very serious fact that has become commonplace. Several opposition deputies, specifically members of the Vox party, have suffered attacks by left-wing extremists, some of which have required hospital care. In a display of totalitarian spirit, the government has not condemned any of these attacks and some of its members have even justified them, accusing those attacked of "provoking." It is scandalous that a government that claims to be democratic thus justifies violence against its political rivals.
4. The government's attempt to liquidate judicial independence. This fact is one of the most serious of the current government. In April, 2,500 Spanish judges alerted the European Union that Spain is going "towards totalitarianism" and that there is a "clear risk of a serious violation of the rule of law in Spain" due to the government's intention to modify the majority necessary to control the Judiciary, "so that the government parties alone can decide the full composition" of the General Council of the Judiciary, which would give the government absolute control of Justice.
5. Government attacks on judges. A point related to the previous one. The government, especially its communist faction, has the habit of attacking judges in particular and the Judicial Power itself in general every time the Justice dictates a sentence that is not to its liking. These attacks have already provoked several official protests by the Judicial Branch, for "contributing to the discrediting of democratic institutions and, within them, the Judicial Branch."
6. The government is neither accountable nor responsive to the opposition. Every week Congress schedules a government control session, but these sessions have come to resemble a form of government control of the opposition. Members of the government do not answer questions and instead simply attack the opposition as if they are uncomfortable with being accountable to Parliament, something that has already been repeatedly denounced by members of the opposition.
7. The refusal to assume any responsibility and to acknowledge any errors. It is one of the events that causes more indignation among the Spanish people. The government of Pedro Sánchez made a terrible management of the health crisis that has had disastrous effects on our economy. However, no member of the government has resigned for this. It has even become normal that the government does not recognize any mistakes and even engages in self-aggrandizement when it does something wrong.
8. The increasing control of the media by the government. The executive of Pedro Sánchez has taken advantage of the health crisis to buy the favor of the media through millionaire subsidies. Yesterday, Antonio Escaño, former editor of the newspaper El País, denounced his dismissal due to pressure from the government and its use of the weakness of the media: "No government has had a media environment as favorable as that of Sánchez."
9. The occultation of information by the government. Pedro Sánchez's cabinet is characterized by its opacity and by the use of official secrecy to classify any matter. The Transparency Council is having constant conflicts with the government, especially due to its opacity in managing the pandemic. The government has come to classify as secret, illegally, information about the very frequent use that Sánchez makes of official planes or about the people who accompany him on those flights, as well as the use he makes of those planes for leisure trips.
10. Press conferences without questions. Since the beginning of the pandemic, and in parallel with the increase in criticism for the mismanagement of the government, Sánchez and his ministers have become accustomed to holding press conferences in which they do not accept questions from journalists, something that has received criticism of media professionals, who thus see their right to freedom of information limited.

The most astonishing of all the events that we have just reviewed is that the European Commission maintains an unjustifiable silence in the face of these signs of authoritarianism, something that can only be explained by the presence of a Spanish socialist, Josep Borrell, as vice-president in that Commission. A person who belongs to the same party as Sánchez: the PSOE.

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Original photo: Efe.