05/03/2013
_ “We are at a crossroads that has to become a time for resolute reforms”
The Constitution and Institutions Director of FAES Foundation, Ignacio Astarloa, has taken part in the debate "Is our State model under revision?", where he remarked that "It's time to strengthen, defend and protect the Constitution and the State before the damage and threats that it will have to face". "We are at a crossroads that has to become a time for resolute reforms", Astarloa added, who also stated that "besides an economic crisis, we have a political and institutional crisis".
In the event, organised by Fundación Canal, Astarloa stressed that "reforms are not the acknowledgement of failure. What actually is failure is not undertaking reforms when new times demand them". "What today is discredit, tomorrow will become credit and appreciation", he said. In addition to this, de declared that "the system's good and, if it has flaws, what we have to do is correct them and not question the system", also asking for "collective courage as a country in order to understand where the problems and challenges lie".
The Constitution and Institutions Director of FAES pointed out that "Reforming institutions is essential, because today they're weak and require power to win in the future". "Political parties are indispensable: what we have to do is find a new balance between the individual Parliament and the group", he said.
Nevertheless, Astarloa stressed that the "most important reform is the territorial model", saying that it is necessary "to close it in order to stop its constant evolution and put an end to the multiplying of structures and capacities". "The territorial problem has been there before the crisis", he reminded the audience. According to him "the Autonomous model has become hypertrophied and the balance between the common and diverse is broken, and we've had nationalist parties which have been deeply disloyal with the constitutional model". In this sense, Astarloa stated that "this country, without a constitutional pact between at least the two biggest parties, has a very complicated solution".