/16.06.15/.- José María Aznar sent a condolence telegram to the daughters of Ana María Vidal-Abarca, co-founder of the Association of Victims of Terrorism, to convey his deepest condolences on the passing of their mother. In the telegram, he emphasized that “she was an exceptional Spaniard: courageous, free and tenacious” who “never accepted the silence imposed by ETA's barbarity and who enabled an increasing number of people to spoke out for Spain and for freedom”. He also recalled “her committed and lucid upholding of the Constitution” and stated that we, all democrats, “owe her an inestimable debt of gratitude”.

/14.04.14/.- On the 150th anniversary of the end of the end of the American Civil War and of the assassination of Lincoln, the analyst Martín Alonso recalls that the challenge of the South threatened the very existence of the nation and the president, aware of this, went to war to preserve democracy and the Constitution. In this analysis published by FAES he states that giving in to the Confederacy’s blackmail would have entailed, in the long run, the destruction of the country, as the demands of the South would have continued.

14.04.15.- Former presidents of Argentina Fernando de la Rúa; Brazil, Fernando H. Cardoso; Chile, Ricardo Lagos; Ecuador, Sixto Durán Ballén; Panama, Ricardo Martinelli, and Dominican Republic, Hipólito Mejía, have joined the Declaration of Panama after its release last April 9. With these new signings, 31 Ibero-American former heads of State and Government have signed the document denouncing the situation suffered by Venezuela.

This April marks the 150th anniversary of the end of the American Civil War and of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln (by a twist of fate, on Palm Sunday and Good Friday of that year). Lincoln, the first president of the Republican Party, created four years earlier to oppose the expansion of slavery, came into office on March 4, 1861, after the secession, a few months before, of seven southern states from the Union. Four more would do the same in the following weeks. Lincoln was a classical liberal who understood that the moral values stated in the Declaration of Independence (life, liberty and property) are eternal and inviolable and precede the establishment of governments among men and make them possible, not the other way round. The denial of these rights to slaves in the South...

/09.04.15/.- The former Prime Minister of Spain and President of FAES Foundation, José María Aznar, has launched the Declaration of Panama, along with the former presidents of Colombia, Andrés Pastrana; of Mexico, Felipe Calderón; of Bolivia, Jorge Quiroga, and of Ecuador, Osvaldo Hurtado. During his address, Aznar said that it made him “very proud to think that 25 former presidents have agreed to defend freedom” and that “silence and inaction are complicit in the untenable situation in Venezuela”. In this regard, he stated that “neither my voice nor my will ever fail to support those who struggle for freedom and for the defence of their rights.” At the event, which took place in Panama City on the eve of the celebration of the VII Summit of the...

Esta edición de Papeles FAES recoge las ideas y conclusiones del curso “Nación, Estado y Constitución” del Campus 2005 de la fundación, celebrado entre el 8 y el 10 de julio. En este curso intervinieron Carmen Iglesias, catedrática de Historia de las Ideas Políticas; Alain Lancelot, ex miembro del Consejo Constitucional de Francia; Edurne Uriarte, catedrática de Ciencias Políticas; Ferran Gallego, profesor de Historia Contemporánea de la Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona; Manuel Jiménez de Parga, ex presidente del Tribunal Constitucional; Arcadi Espada, periodista; Jon Juaristi, escritor; Roberto Blanco, catedrático de Derecho Constitucional; César Alonso de los Ríos, periodista; Javier Corcuera, catedrático de Derecho Constitucional; Josep Piqué, ex ministro de Asuntos Exteriores; Emilio Lamo de Espinosa, catedrático de sociología y Alejandro Muñoz-Alonso, catedrático de opinión pública y portavoz del Grupo Popular en la Comisión de Defensa del Senado. El curso fue dirigido por Javier Zarzalejos. La edición de esta publicación ha corrido a cargo de Santos Villanueva.

El rechazo de los ciudadanos franceses y holandeses a los referendos de ratificación del Tratado de la Constitución Europea celebrados, respectivamente, el día 29 de mayo en Francia y el día 1 de junio en Holanda, está dirigido en primer término contra los Gobiernos de Chirac y de Balkenende, pero manifiestan también la profunda ansiedad de amplios sectores de la población de ambos países respecto a tres problemas de alcance general: la ampliación al Este, los efectos de la globalización en economías ?que como la francesa, mantienen niveles decrecientes de competitividad y productividad? y el fenómeno de la inmigración. Se ha desencadenado una crisis en la Unión Europea, que podría tener consecuencias no sólo respecto al Tratado Constitucional, sino también en relación a la unión monetaria y al peso de Europa en el escenario internacional.

Europe is in the throes of two simultaneous crises: on the one hand, it is suffering from a political crisis, a crisis of leadership, one that has led to constitutional failure; on the other, it is suffering from a loss of identity, a phenomenon that results in cultural relativism. Marcello Pera, Speaker of the Italian Senate and Professor of Philosophy of Science at the University of Pisa, delivered a conference entitled “Strength of Identity” during the course of the FAES Campus 2005, a paper which the FAES Foundation is now publishing. Also known as the co-author of the book Senza Radici (“Without Roots”) alongside Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), Professor Pera urges European culture to proudly recall and reaffirm its origins and its universal democratic principles: freedom, equality and tolerance. In this respect, Europe must recognise the intrinsic value of a civilisation, Western civilisation, that has given the world so many universal ideas. “Europe must be aware of the moral superiority of a series of values that have prevailed over centuries and that have produced beneficial results wherever they have become established”.

Desde su inicio, la Unión Europea ha adoptado sus decisiones por consenso y respetando el equilibrio de los intereses de todos. Este afán se plasma en un sistema político-institucional sui generis en el que los Tratados atribuyen el poder legislativo, judicial y ejecutivo entre las diversas instituciones comunitarias. Dentro del entramado institucional comunitario, el Consejo desempeña un papel fundamental, puesto que es co-legislador y autoridad presupuestaria junto con el Parlamento Europeo. Además, el Consejo está llamado a ejercer un papel cada vez mayor en la definición de la política exterior de la Unión Europea y realiza una labor fundamental en la preparación de las reuniones del Consejo Europeo, verdadero vértice político de la Unión Europea. La forma en que el Consejo adopta sus decisiones está también diseñada para conseguir el consenso y mantener el equilibrio de poderes. Hasta ahora, el Consejo ha adoptado sus decisiones mediante el denominado sistema de voto ponderado.