Franco died on November 20, 1975 and two days later Juan Carlos became king of Spain. The transition to democracy was mainly the work of the government headed by A. Suárez González (1976-1981); in 1981, the king’s refusal to collaborate with the rebels caused a failed coup attempt carried out by soldiers of the civil guard with the support of sectors of the armed forces. With the return to democracy for the Spain began a rapid process of economic, social and political modernization, which also strengthened its image as an emerging state in the assembly of the most developed nations. The political system assumed the features of a democracy of alternation, with the succession of central and center-right and center-left forces in the government: the first at the helm of the country from 1977 to 1982 with A. Suárez González and L. Calvo- Sotelo Bustelo and then from 1996 to 2004 with JM Aznar López; the latter from 1982 to 1996 with the socialist F. González Márquez. Already a member of the European Economic Community (EEC) since 1986, Spain is part of the European Union. In spring 2003 it was among the European countries that supported the invasion of Iraq by sending a military contingent. For Spain democracy and rights, please check intershippingrates.com.
● On 11 March 2004, on the eve of the legislative elections, bloody attacks of Islamic origin caused around 200 victims and thousands of injured in Madrid. Aznar’s statements aimed at blaming Basque terrorism for the tragedy turned against the People’s Party and the vote saw the victory of the Socialists. The government of JL Rodríguez Zapatero (re-elected in 2008), which among its very first acts approved the complete withdrawal of troops from Iraq, has undertaken a secular reform of the civil code, clashing with conservative forces and the Catholic Church on issues such as marriage, abortion and the rights of same-sex couples. Nevertheless, in the face of increasingly alarming data from polls on the collapse of the electoral consensus and the pressure of a serious economic crisis, in July 2011 the premier announced the remission of his mandate four months before the expiry of the legislature. indignados – there was a clear affirmation of the People’s Party of M. Rajoy, which reached an absolute majority in Parliament obtaining 44% of the votes and 186 seats out of 350 in the Congress of Deputies, while the Socialist Party led by A. Pérez Rubalcaba is 28.7% of the preferences went, the worst result ever of the left which also led to a considerable growth of the smaller parties. In 2012, however, the serious economic crisis affecting the country did not stop: the reform of the labor market advocated by Rajoy and the financial maneuver announced in March, which led to cuts in public spending for over 27 billion euros., caused strikes and street demonstrations, while industrial production reported decreases of 5,Social tension intensified in July, following the disbursement by the Eurozone of a € 100 billion aid package for the recapitalization of banks, which avoided the risk of a bankruptcy of the country but forced Rajoy to decide on new cuts in the salaries of public employees and an increase in VAT; such austerity measures have been met with severe street riots in numerous cities. New waves of protests arose in the autumn of the same year, in the face of the launch for the 2013 budget of further austerity measures for a total of 40 billion euros: the demonstrators demanded the resignation of Rajoy’s government, the dissolution of parliament and the enactment of a new constitution. indignados, and already imposed itself in the European elections of 2014) and Ciudadanos obtained numerous seats to the detriment of the PP (27% of the votes), which, while remaining the first party in the country, lost an absolute majority, and of the PSOE (25% of the votes). The progressive erosion of consensus in favor of government forces was clearly outlined in the political consultations of December 2015, in which Prime Minister Rajoy’s PP obtained a narrow victory (28.7% of the votes) by not reaching an absolute majority and securing 123 seats in Congress, one third fewer than in the 2011 elections, against 90 for the socialists (22% of the votes, worst result in the history of the party): emerging political force confirmed Podemos (20%, 60 seats), third party of the country, followed by Ciudadanos (14%), while the two Catalan independence parties Democracia i Llibertat and Erc obtained 17 seats. In January 2016, Rajoy rejected the proposal to try to obtain the investiture of the Congress of Deputies advanced to him by King Felipe VI, who in the same month gave the socialist P. Sánchez the task of forming the new executive within two months of the first. investiture debate, under penalty of return to the polls; supported only by Podemos, however, the candidate for premier Sánchez was rejected by the Madrid Congress. In April, having ascertained the impossibility of forming a new government, Felipe VI called early elections, held in June, but the consultations did not avert the persistence of a situation of ungovernability, essentially re-proposing the same picture produced by the December elections: ad interim Rajoy did not get the confidence of the House in the first and second votes of the investiture debate. In October 2016, after ten months of stalemate and thanks to the abstention of the PSOE, the Congress of Ministers approved the investiture of the politician for his second term.
Catalonia’s requests for greater autonomy resulted in the approval of a new Statute (2006) which extended the self-government of the Autonomous Community and enshrined its right to define itself as a nation, and a similar process took place in Andalusia (2007), while a serious crisis between local authorities and central government opened in October 2017 after the referendum held by Catalonia and won by the separatists and the constitution of the Catalan Republic as an “independent and sovereign state under democratic and social law”,to which Prime Minister M. Rajoy responded firmly, activating the procedures for the application of Article 155 of the Constitution, which provides for the commissioner and the transfer of the powers of the Generalitat to Madrid, dissolving the Catalan Parliament and dismissing President C. Puigdemont. The regional consultations held in the following December nevertheless recorded a clear victory of the independence front, which together regained the absolute majority, with 70 seats out of 135 in the new Parliament of Barcelona, while the unionist parties obtained a total of 57 seats; in May 2018 the independentist Q. Torra was elected president of the Generalit, relieved from office in October 2020 by the Spanish Supreme Court following a conviction for disobedience, and replaced ad interim by the vice president P. Aragonès i Garcia. In June 2018, following the approval of a motion of censure presented by the PSOE after the conviction of the People’s Party for corruption, Prime Minister Rajoy resigned, succeeding the socialist P. Sánchez. In February 2019, the premier was forced to dissolve the chambers and call new elections, following the rejection of the budget law, rejected by the Popular Party, by Ciudadanos and by the Catalan separatists, who had made it a condition not to vote against the law that the government agreed to negotiate for the self-determination of Catalonia. The consultations, held in April with a turnout of 75.7%, awarded the victory to the PSOE (28.7% of the votes, 123 seats), followed by the second left party, Unidas podemos (14.3%, 42 seats), for a total of 165 seats, however not sufficient to achieve an absolute majority; the right-wing bloc consisting of the Partido popular (16.7%, 66 seats), Ciudadanos (57 seats) and the nationalist and sovereign Vox party (10%, 24 seats), with which the pro-Franco far right returns to Parliament for the first time since 1982. The European elections held in May 2019 confirmed the affirmation of Spanish socialism, recording the clear victory of the PSOE of Sánchez, which obtained 32.8% of the votes, followed by the Popular Party (20.1%), the centrists of Ciudadanos (12.2%) and the radical left of Unidas Podemos (10%), while the extreme right of Vox stood at 6.5% of the preferences. However, in July 2019 Prime Minister Sánchez failed to gain the confidence to form a government; reiterated by another round of consultations held in September the impossibility of setting up a new executive, the new elections held in November confirmed the stalemate, with the PSOE affirming itself as the first party (28% of votes) but did not get the majority, while Vox’s far right won 15.1% of the votes. A few days later Sánchez and the leader of Unidas Podemos P. Iglesias signed an agreement for the formation of a coalition government; the new executive, led by Sánchez and with Iglesias as vice president, was approved by Parliament in January 2020. In March 2021 Iglesias resigned to oppose the advance of the right, confirmed by the regional elections held in the following May, where the clear victory of the PP was recorded, which obtained 65 of the 136 seats in Parliament, while the PSOE of Sánchez lost 13 of the 37 seats it possessed and Unidas podemos received on the 7th, 2% of the votes, equal to 10 seats, which led Iglesias to leave all institutional and party positions; the following June, the Minister for Social Rights I. Belarra took over from the party secretariat. what induced Iglesias to leave all institutional and party positions; the following June, the Minister for Social Rights I. Belarra took over from the party secretariat. what induced Iglesias to leave all institutional and party positions; the following June, the Minister for Social Rights I. Belarra took over from the party secretariat.
The problem of Basque separatism remains dramatic and still partly unsolved: the independence party Batasuna was outlawed in 2003, considered the political arm of the terrorist organization ETA, the latter had announced a permanent truce in 2006, but then became responsible of other attacks that have precluded any dialogue with the government. After the definitive renunciation of violence by ETA in October 2011, the radical independence left (banned by the 2008 policies) triumphed in the parliamentary elections of the following November, which with the Amauir party entered Parliament with seven deputies, becoming the fifth Spanish parliamentary force. At the administrative held in October 2012 there was the victory of Rajoy’s Partido popular (PP) in Galicia, which obtained 46% of the votes, winning 41 of the 75 seats, while in the Basque Country the Partido nacionalista vasco (PNV) was confirmed as the first force with 34% of the votes; results confirmed by the consultations held in September 2016, with the PP remaining the majority party in Galicia, containing losses in the Basque Country, where the legislative assembly remains dominated by the PNV. In May 2018, ETA, which in April of the previous year had formally renounced the armed struggle and started the disarmament process, announced its definitive dissolution. with the PP remaining the majority party in Galicia, limiting the losses in the Basque Country, where the legislative assembly remains dominated by the PNV. In May 2018, ETA, which in April of the previous year had formally renounced the armed struggle and started the disarmament process, announced its definitive dissolution. with the PP remaining the majority party in Galicia, limiting the losses in the Basque Country, where the legislative assembly remains dominated by the PNV. In May 2018, ETA, which in April of the previous year had formally renounced the armed struggle and started the disarmament process, announced its definitive dissolution.
On 2 June 2014, the sovereign Juan Carlos of Bourbon announced his will to abdicate in favor of his son, Crown Prince Felipe; after the approval of the law that authorized the transmission of power, he succeeded him on the throne of Spain on 19 June 2014, taking the name of Felipe VI.
