ANTONIO TORRES SUMMER SCHOOL

MEP Javier Zarzalejos took part on Friday, September 5, in the “Antonio Torres” Summer School organized by the People’s Party of Aragón. He participated in a roundtable discussion alongside Ignacio Astarloa and Carlos Vidal, moderated by Senator Eloy Suárez, which addressed the crisis of the rule of law in Spain.

In his remarks, Zarzalejos warned that Spain is going through the most serious crisis of its democracy since the transition, to the point of becoming “unrecognizable as a parliamentary democracy.” He stressed that this institutional decline is a cause of serious concern and requires a firm political response.

The MEP from the People’s Party defended the need to recover a spirit of national cohesion to put an end to the “silent procedures of constitutional mutation” that, in his view, the Government is promoting. He denounced the targeting of judges and the approval of ad hoc reforms designed to benefit specific politicians, elements he described as clear symptoms of democratic deterioration.

Zarzalejos asserted that the legislature will not be shortened and, on the contrary, warned that the executive’s parliamentary partners will seek to “squeeze a Government surrounded by corruption.” In this context, he described the current political moment as a “process of ending the Sánchez regime,” which will translate into greater confrontation and into a strategy of institutional decline accompanied by a territorial mutation intended to be irreversible.

Under these circumstances, he highlighted the importance of the alternative represented by the People’s Party. He pointed out that the task of a future PP Government will be “hugely important,” as it will have to put an end to an illiberal path, restore the rule of law, and rebuild citizens’ trust in institutions.