11/04/2013
_ “Institutional normality, respect for rules and the defence of the democracy is what makes the realization of everyone’s rights possible”
_ “Populism laminates the middle class, and in so diong it threatens democracy, the Welfare State and freedom”
_ “In Latin America, a certain left has decided to copy our ideas and proposals”
_ “Spain is working to get over the consequences left by a government of the left. And we will make it. Spain is, and will keep on being”
_ “Europe needs today Latin America’s example, its experience of freedom, democracy and progress”
José María Aznar former Prime Minister of Spain and president of FAES Foundation said, during the closing session of the International Seminar ‘Latin America: Challenges and Opportunities’, organized by Libertad Foundation in Rosario (Argentina) on the occasion of its 25th Anniversary, that “we must openly introduce ourselves as what we are: advocates of freedom, democracy and of the real progress of societies”. According to Aznar, “the triad formed by freedom, democracy and economic growth is the best proof that those old ideologies which sought to force us to choose between freedom and prosperity and that played with democracy at their will, are false. There is no opposition between freedom and prosperity. There is no opposition between social justice and legal certainty. There is no opposition between welfare development and respect for the law”.
“What there is, is just the opposite”, Aznar assured, for whom “institutional normality, respect for the rules and the defence of the democracy is what enables economic growth, middle class expansion, welfare State development and the realization of everyone’s rights”.
SUCCESS STORY
In his speech in Rosario, the former Prime Minister of Spain celebrated the fact that there “is a sustained and general economic growth in Latin America; ordered transitions strengthening great policies have occurred; there is a new international role for the region. There are many success stories to tell and display”. “Those who cannot tell any are precisely those who have chosen to take the old paths and the old policies”, he added.
“Populism, is today’s great threat to freedom, it transforms democracy into something else with a similar external appearance, but with a completely different content. It turns democracy into an empty shell”, Aznar stated, adding that “it keeps the appearance of a democratic election, but it forgets that in addition to that, the rules must be respected, pluralism must be preserved, the media can’t be threatened, the judges must be independent…” And he insisted that “populism laminates the middle class, and in so doing, it threatens democracy and the welfare State. It threatens freedom”.
Aznar has also remarked that “sometimes, good news coming from Latin America have been due to a certain left deciding to copy our ideas and our proposals”. In this sense, he asked “to lose any fear of saying what we think and of doing what we consider appropriate; not let ourselves be surpassed by copies when we are the original, and offer more and better progress to our societies than what any imitator could ever offer”. “We must openly introduce ourselves as what we are: advocates of freedom, democracy and of the real progress of societies”, he assured.
However, Aznar has said that “nothing guarantees that the left won’t ever come back the way it used to”. “In Spain, we know pretty well what that means. We are working very hard to get over the economic, political and social consequences left by the Socialist Government. And we will make it. Spain is, and will keep on being”, he added.
LATIN AMERICA AS AN EXAMPLE
In his speech, Aznar has exhorted to “defend not only the theory of freedom but its reality”. “The reality of freedom creates the reality of progress”, he said, and emphasized that “freedom is what gives sense and extent to democracy; it’s what institutions must preserve and promote; it’s the most important link that must be strengthened between Europe and Latin America”. “Europe needs today the example of Latin America, of its experience of freedom, democracy and progress”, he also assured.
In words of FAES’ president, “it is a similar process to the one lived by Spain a few decades ago. We then felt proud of being able to provide the example of our political transition, of our economic opening, of our social modernization. Today, we feel proud of being able to take Latin America as the example”. “In that historical social change which is being consolidated in the region, the role of the Spanish companies in the modernization of the economy, the infrastructures or the telecommunications, key to social development, is highly important”, he declared.