On 7 April, Quebec’s electorate was called to the ballot box to choose its new provincial parliament. The previous Premier, sovereignist Pauline Marois, called early elections, not having a solid majority to govern. The election results have confirmed the trend detected over the election campaign: victory of the Liberal Party with a comfortable absolute majority (70 seats out of 125, 41.5% of the votes), thus recovering the provincial government which it had lost in the previous elections of 4 September 2012, after 9 years in office.

It is said that China, boosted by an accelerated economic development, is practically unstoppable. The great emerging power, they say. Maybe. But it could also happen—remember what happened to Germany throughout the first decades of the 20th century—that a great power is weakened by its increasing power. And it could also happen that China’s neighbours and competitors—Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Vietnam or India—reach a sort of agreement—either implicit or explicit—to—politically, commercially and territorially speaking—stop the Asian giant. In any case, China is there. And it follows its course. Thus, a question comes up: can we consider the hypothesis of a China that, economically and commercially speaking, will “colonise” the United States? A plausible...

FAES Foundation launched Canalejas. Un liberal reformista, the fourth volume of the series Biografías Políticas, published by its imprint Gota a Gota. The book was launched in the Centre for Political and Constitution Studies. Ricardo Martín de la Guardia, professor of Contemporary History at the University of Valladolid; Benigno Pendás, director of the Centre; and Miguel Ángel Quintanilla, FAES Director of the Publishing Department, also took part in the event.

José María Aznar, former Prime minister of Spain and President of FAES Foundation, closed on Friday, March 28, in Madrid, the annual seminar jointly organised by FAES Foundation and European Ideas Network, EIN, the network of think tanks and foundations linked to the European People’s Party. The seminar, which was opened on Thursday by Jaime Mayor Oreja, Vice-Chair of the People’s Party in the European Parliament, and Javier Zarzalejos, Secretary-General of FAES Foundation, addressed populism and nationalism as factors of social distortion as well as the new grounds for increased Transatlantic cooperation. A group of forty personalities—scholars, think tank members, MEPs and American executives—took part in the sessions.

FAES Foundation, through its imprint Gota a Gota, publishes the fourth volume of its series Biografías Políticas, dedicated to José Canalejas, four times minister and president of the Congress of Deputies. The new book, Canalejas. Un liberal reformista, written by Salvador Forner, unfolds the career of one of the greatest political figures of the early 20th century.

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.